I Mistook You For Someone Else
by Saadia1994
Summary: 4 friends, 4 years and a lifetime of memories, Lily Evans was as normal as normal can be...until one surprising prank call changed everything for her! Now she has to make a choice she never imagined she'd have to make...It's an AU! Give it a try...
1. Chapter 1

A/n: Hey there to whoever is attempting to read this story and trying to like it! I know most of you are canon fans (me included), but sometimes it gets a little tiring to read the same story over and over again from different authors. And by that, I meant no offense to the authors who have written canon stories. Because I have nearly read every single James and lily story(canon or not)! Anyway, if your heart isn't in it in by the first chapter, then please wait patiently for another...first chapters are always boring(unless someone really good is writing it, which is not me I assure you, so it probably is boring)! But as I said try and get into it...cause it's my first fan-fiction!

I originally started to write this story a year ago, and I've written plenty, but just didn't have enough confidence to put it up. After getting encouraged by my sister and cousin, I decided to put it up. This story is AU...sorry to those who will be forced to leave this story because of that! But I do hope it won't come to that!

Anyway, this story is mostly based on real life (kind of), especially lily's friend.

When I first wrote this story, I called them Jamie Miller and Lily Slater...but in fact they were actually James and Lily...I don't know what made me name them those names, but I did. But then I decided to post this fan-fiction, and I thought readers (if I have any) might not appreciate it. So I changed them back to James and Lily. I'm actually, literally in love with them. And you will be shocked to hear (unless you are like me) that I only read James and Lily fan-fiction. Sometimes (and that is very rare), I read Draco and Hermione...actually, to be truthful, I've only ever read one. And that is "Not again, Granger!" by thestarscomeout. Oh and another long one but I can't seem to remember it.

Anyways, I should let you get on with it, I keep going on and on..sorry. Again, it's my first fan-fic story ever! Please read and review...good or bad...

Chapter 1

Lily was that type of a person, who believed in love at first sight. Who is still waiting for her knight in 'sterling' armour, as she liked to call it. She always fell for the male characters in her novels and movies, regardless of their age.

"You see, that way, I can never let a guy destroy me." She constantly said when someone criticized her beliefs, which were often thrown from her friends. "And that way, I can have as many of them as possible."

Her friends constantly told her that if she were to date a boy - which she has sworn never to do -she would be the world class best player. For she's known for falling in and out of love easily, especially if she saw a guy on the street or her best friends brother, she would squeal and say "Gee, he's so handsome, I'm totally in love with him.", and forget about him the second he's out of sight.

She had never actually liked a boy with a real soul and a body that had made her heart beat rapidly. She believed that her never-cheating, always-pleasing boyfriends were easier to handle when they were safely tucked away in her books.

She was also the type of girl who lived by love quotes. And 'Love is giving someone the power to destroy you, but trusting them not to' was one of her favourite.

Another one of her beliefs were that one cannot have a boy for a best friend without falling madly in love with them. Although, Summer Meads, her best friend, tried to prove her wrong by staying best friends with Alex McDean since they started Secondary School. But Lily and her other friends knew better. Although, Summer was forever arguing with them that 'he is _just_ my friend.'

Lily's friends were completely opposite to her, besides Summer. Her and Lily were the only ones from their group who would actually hesitate without pretending if someone was to ask them out. Lily decided that Summer would only hesitate because of Alex, otherwise she would be ready to 'try out the new world' too.

Angelina Moore - aka Angel - and Sam Montoya were different, in fact, very different from Lily. Lily's brain couldn't think of even one time when they had turned a boy down. Their image in front of the boys was perfect and they liked it, loved it, even.

As well as having great and loyal friends, Lily had also managed to get herself an enemy. James Potter, a very good looking, Lily grudgingly admitted to herself, -and he knew this- pathetic and an arrogant seventeen year old, who had made it to Lily Evan's list of 'I hate these people'. Alongside his friend, Naomi McCord-actually make that wanna-be-friend-who acted as though she was made for James, but Lily wasn't sure whether James agreed with her and he seemed to be ignoring the oh-so subtle hints that she sent towards him.

Although, Lily and her friends had been sure right from the beginning that one day James would realize that he and Naomi were just 'meant to be'. But that moment had not yet happened, although the girls had their fingers crossed.

Just thinking about them made Lily dread going back to school tomorrow after two months of James and Naomi free zone. She had not set eyes on either of them throughout the entire summer holidays since their last day of their sixth year, when she had hid an unwrapped mince pie in his bag as a surprise. She was glad that her and her cronies-as Summer's dad called them- were going to meet up at Costa for hot chocolate before they started their new year and the battles that would follow with James.

But Lily had made a new school year resolution that she would try her hardest to ignore both of them for as long as possible before she unleashed her wrath on them. Her friends laughed at her when she told them and one even commented that they won't have to wait for long.

She opened 'Goodnight, Beautiful', by one of her favourite authors, but she had to put it away after five minutes of reading the same line without her brain taking anything in that actually made sense. She was too giddy to concentrate on her book, when she knew she would be seeing her friends again after at least two weeks and that she would be starting a new year. The tears threatened to leak over-as they always did-when she thought that 'This is it'! No more excitement and giddiness at the start of a new year because this was her last and final year at Hogwarts High School. She pushed this thought away and dreamed of seeing her friends before falling asleep in a deep and satisfied sleep.

Or so she thought when she was awoken by her own piercing scream. She had a horrible dream that James Potter was made head teacher and he was point black refusing to let her into his school on her first day.

She lay on her bed, slightly sweating and tried to go back to sleep, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get to sleep. After what seemed like ages, she fell back into an uneasy sleep.***

A/N: Remember what I said, it's a first chapter thing, please give it a chance and review...


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey, guys! Not many reviews but hopefully it will get better.**

**A whole load of cookies to aasiya333, wannabeme15 and irish4eva for adding me to their favourites list. Thank you!**

Chapter 2

Lily stretched her hand towards her bedside table and searched for the alarm clock before banging it shut. She was about to turn and burrow back into the warm covers, when her eyes suddenly fell on the alarm clock. She let out a muffled scream and hurriedly scrambled out of bed.

"Mum, mum?" She yelled as she grabbed her toiletries and rushed to the banister on her way to the bathroom, "Could you not wake me up earlier?"

"I did wake you up, but you're not the only person in the house that has to get ready." Her mum's voice floated up the stairs.

Lily groaned audibly and continued her way towards the bathroom. Was she the only one with sense around here?

She was on her way to Costa just after twenty minutes, having said a hurried goodbye to her mum and a quick kiss to her sister Olivia. She was dressed in her uniform which consisted of a white buttoned up shirt and a knee-length black skirt.

She checked her watch which showed 8:05 and quickened her pace. She stopped to fix her hair as she passed a window.

There were small squeals and sounds of footsteps from behind her. She turned around and staggered back a few steps when a pair of thin arms strangled her neck and hugged her tightly.

"Hello? Can you let go, I'm having difficulty in breathing here." She managed to say when another two pair of arms wound around her neck and waist.

"Omg, I've like, not seen you since like, a whole week." Angel said dramatically as she let go of her neck.

"Yeah, like, since forever," Jumped in Sam.

"Yeah, like forever." Summer echoed.

"Yeah and why are we all speaking like Naomi McCord?" Lily said, happy to have her friends back after a long holiday.

"I'm really excited and can't remember the way I usually speak." Said Angel as she linked arms with Sam and motioned for them to walk forward.

"Yeah, me too, I'm excited, I mean, not that I don't remember how to speak," said Lily with a shake of her head.

Sam and Summer laughed. They entered the warm cafe and made their way towards their seat at the back in the far corner. It was always that way; they tended to find places away from the public eyes, so they could mess about without any eyebrows raised.

"Is it the usual, guys?" Sam asked. The girls nodded and got their purses out as Sam went to order.

"So how's it going with Mr 34 Lang-ham Close?" Summer asked Angel with a knowing smile.

"Yeah, how's it going with lover boy?" asked Sam as she came back with four hot chocolates and placed them on the table.

"Nothing much really," Angel sighed, cradling her cup and looked down. "He's being really awkward. He called me twice to go watch a movie and he's cancelled on me twice."

"What?" Lily cried outrageously.

"What the hell? How dare he?" Summer asked disbelievingly.

"You're not serious, are you?" asked Sam.

"I am. I mean what guy does that? Sometimes, I think, I might just start being like Lily and fall in love with the fictional folk, you know, to avoid heartache and all that." Angel said with an expression that clearly showed that she didn't mean what she was saying.

"Yeah, Angel, I think you're right. You know I th..." Lily nodded her head enthusiastically but stopped abruptly when she saw the other two giving her the eye.

"What?" she said innocently. Angel was right. How many times had she seen Sam and Angel cry over a lost boy?

"Nothing. You just forgot to think before you spoke. It's OK, we're used to it." Said Sam sarcastically.

"Anyways, guys, it doesn't matter. If he likes me as much as I like him, then he'll come round. I'm officially not going to date until I'm seventeen." Angel said with a determined face.

"Yeah, I'll remind you when you start flirting as soon as you walk in class," Lily said as she placed her empty cup on the table and stood up. "Come on, it's 8:30 already."

They stood up, their chairs scraping against the tiled floor.

"Let's go to the newsagents." Lily announced suddenly as they made their way out of the cafe.

"No, we can't. You just said we were getting late." Summer reminded her.

"By late, I meant, if we don't get out of Costa, we won't be able to go and buy my swizzles fizzy love heart sweets and..." She trailed off with a pleading face and what she thought was puppy dog eyes. "I mean, guys, please, come on."

"Fine, you've got exactly 120 seconds," said Sam wickedly. They entered the shop and Lily ran ahead to get her sweets and the rest stood by the newspaper stand and flicked through the magazines. She saw Sam's eyes travel over the Lad's magazine as she darted away.

The bell tinkled over the shop as the shop door opened with the cold morning wind. To their horror, Naomi McCord and James Potter walked in, laughing too hard to notice who was standing right in front of them. Sam nudged Angel.

"We should warn Lily before she sees them or else there'll be some bloodshed even before we've started school." She said and raced off to find Lily. But it was too late. Lily was in the queue; with James and Naomi just a couple of places behind her. She seemed not to have felt their presence as continued humming 'I'm a Barbie girl' happily. Not for long it seemed, the girls groaned inwardly as they saw James lean over to speak to her.

"We're standing in the queue to pay at the counter, not to listen to your singing." He said as Naomi started laughing.

Lily turned around slowly and placed her hand on her hips.

"What do you want?" she asked quite fiercely.

"A lot, but nothing from you, that's for sure." He replied with a smirk on his face, which encouraged Naomi to laugh even harder.

"Yeah, very funny. Shame I forgot to laugh." Lily said and turned towards the front again as the queue moved up. She quietly wondered where Sirius Black was, James's best friend. It was unnatural to see one without the other.

Summer went up to Lily and dragged her towards the front of the queue, which raised a few protests but Summer carried on. Summer wasn't in the mood to let Lily humiliate herself and them in front of anyone, even if they were strangers and they might never see each other again.

"Can she just pay for this before an actual fight breaks out?" She asked pleadingly to the shopkeeper, a short friendly man with a big belly sticking out.

"Sure." The shopkeeper said cheerfully. "Although I wouldn't have minded the fight much."

"Right. Whatever." Summer muttered as Lily paid for the sweets. She then dragged her towards the door without a glance towards James's direction.

"Bye, Barbie." He called as they exited the shop.

Lily snatched her arm back from Summer's grip angrily.

"Why didn't you let me say anything?" She said as they continued towards the school at a quick pace.

"You don't only speak. You also have 'the violent streak'. Remember last time you broke your hand when you tried to punch him?" Angel said, and Lily scowled at the reminder.

"Yeah, it was embarrassing for us, when we had to hang around with you when you were tagging along with your cast." Said Sam jokingly, sensing the tension brewing between them.

Lily didn't say anything and they walked on till the school gates.

"Look, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to snap at you guys." She apologized after a few minutes of silence. She knew her friends had just been trying to avoid a scene. Which was probably for the best.

"Hey, it's OK. I do sympathize with you, but don't give him the satisfaction." Said Summer in a mature way that made Angel and Sam laugh out loud.

"I'll keep that in mind." Lily told her as they walked in through the school gates and marched silently towards the assembly hall, under the beady eye of their Deputy head, Professor McGonagall.

**A/N: review please, otherwise I'll be self-conscious and unable to have enough confidence to update.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Omg, guys, 9 reviews, 5 favourites, 1 alert..**

**okay, some of you are probably thinking, so what? I've had more. But trust me, for me this is reallyyy reallyyyy big. Admittedly, 8 reviews are from sisters and cousins, but at least one (Irish4eva), was not forced. But yeah, guys, keep the reviews coming and make me feel great. And i forgot to tell you before...in the chapter, last line (there's only one) of A/N, it says chains instead of chance. so forgive and forget. And I've written Jamie instead James in a couple of places, you know what to do...**

Chapter 3

"Lily Evans!" Miss Tee called out as she began the roll call.

"So he just called and cancelled?" Lily whispered to Angel, continuing her conversation from earlier, unaware that her name was being called.

"Lily?" The teacher repeated, clearly getting annoyed.

"Yes, miss?" Lily whipped around, hitting Summer in the face whilst doing so. Summer scowled at her.

"Lily, this is a school and I'm taking a register. So it would be very appreciated if you paid attention." The teacher barked.

"Sorry miss and here miss." Lily said apologetically, looking down to hide her scarlet face.

"Wish you weren't." Said a voice from behind her and Lily didn't have to turn around to know who the speaker was.

"Unfortunately, I had no choice," She replied. "It doesn't exactly help my mood to see your face on a daily basis. That's why the weekend is the best time for me."

"That's funny, because you're describing just how I feel about you." James smirked.

"Hahaha? Sorry, but next time you'll have to tell me before you make a joke, so I can laugh as not to hurt your feelings." Lily said sarcastically and turned around to stare at him.

"Yes and why don't you just shut your mouth?" He hissed ad he glared at her with hatred in his eyes. She saw Sirius pat him on his back and laugh.

Lily recoiled from his gaze and turned back around. She knew he hated her and she knew that the feeling was mutual, but to see him glare at her like that made her stomach lurch. She felt tears prickle her eyes and she blinked hard to stop them from rolling down her cheeks.

"Hey, you ok?" Asked Summer, with genuine concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, her voice thick with emotion. She hated feeling like this because of him.

"Listen guys, we've not had a sleepover since like, ages. So how about you guys come over to mine?" Summer asked enthusiastically. Lily knew that was a way to distract her from her Keswick nemesis.

"Only if your cousin still lives with you." Said Sam with a naughty grin on her face. Lily cracked a small, slow smile. Trust Sam to bring that up.

"Yeah, him and his brother." Angel told her importantly. Summer rolled her eyes and nodded at them.

"Then I'm in." said Angel and smiled innocently.

"Sure, why not? Actually, I'll have to check with Jake first. He might need me to babysit Amy." Lily said with a thoughtful look on her face. Her older brother lived just a little outside of town with his little family. And he would often drop his daughter off for Lily to babysit.

"Well we can make it on a day when you don't need to babysit?" Asked Summer with a pleading look on her face. "It can even be a weekday, if we're that desperate. Then we can go to school together."

"Summer Mead, Detention." Called out Miss Tee suddenly and beckoned Summer over to her desk.

"What? Hey, what have I done?" Summer asked incredulously with her arms in the air.

"Come here, now!" Miss Tee said loudly.

Summer made her way towards the teacher's desk and came back to her seat, clutching a detention slip in her hand, and wearing a disbelieving look on her face.

"Why me?" She said as she sat back into her seat and slammed her tutorial book on the table. "I mean, I wasn't even talking that much."

"I would love to give you company and join you for the detention, but I'm busy, so no can do." Said Lily sympathetically. The other two nodded their heads and turned away, trying to escape from having to think up an excuse.

"Don't worry I'm not going to force you." Said Summer through gritted teeth and Lily knew these words were thrown at Sam and Angel, but she couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

"We'll have that sleepover of yours to cheer you up," She said consolingly.

"Yeah, right," Summer attempted a smile. "I don't even know why I'm so worked up over one detention, when I've had loads with you guys."

"Chill, it doesn't..." Angel was cut off mid-sentence by the school bell, signalling for the next lesson.

They walked out of the shower room together after a sweaty lesson of P.E, chatting away about their it's-going-to-be-a-wicked sleepover.

"I hope my dreams don't come crashing down, like usual," Said Angel grimly as they entered the cafeteria.

"Remember, we were meant to go ice skating a few weeks ago and we weren't allowed?" Summer put her bags down at their usual table and they queued up to get their food.

"Oh, and that time when we weren't allowed to go to the cinemas." Lily scoffed. Sometimes, it was simply just difficult for them to get together outside of school. That's why they hadn't gotten together in the summer, where they couldn't lie and say they have school work and they're desperate for help. Lily's mum didn't much allow her to venture outside even though she was seventeen. She was too protective of her children, and Lily supposed being a single parent can do that to you.

Lily moved forward in the queue and laughed at Angel as she started doing her make up on her freshly washed skin.

They all jumped at the CRACK that made the entire cafeteria turn around and stare in shock. The red and white table which was situated right at the front of the cafeteria, was split into two, both were broken down on the floor and had fallen on either side. The contents of the food were scattered all over, spilt from the trays and the people who were seated around the table were backing away in horror.

And there stood, amidst all the chaos, a very angry and thundering James Potter. Surprise, surprise, Lily thought. His face was flushed red with obvious anger and his jet-black hair was scattered all over his head, making a few strands fall into his eyes.

He had his finger pointing towards Joshua Collin threateningly. The whole cafeteria had fallen quiet and everyone was staring fixatedly at either James or Joshua. Or the mess they had managed to create, in Lily's case.

"Think twice before you decide to touch her again." James spat at Joshua, and his words rang loud and clear through the cafeteria and a strange fear went through Lily's spine.

"Who is he...?" Lily began, but just then her eyes fell on Jess Potter, James' sister, who was tugging at her brother arm in vain, begging him to stop, as silent tears fell down her cheeks.

James stood, staring at Joshua with hatred in his eyes. Lily's eyes scanned the crowed and to no one's surprise, she found Sirius just a few feet away from his best friend. Even he looked a little angry, and unlike Jess, he made no move to stop James.

"He must have touched her." Sam said in horror, pointing at Jess.

"Well said, Sam." Angel looked at her sarcastically.

"Oh, you know what I meant." Sam said.

"I feel sorry for Joshua; to have someone humiliate you in front of the entire school isn't exactly what I would want on my first day back." Said Lily sympathetically, who wasn't in a hurry to forget the way she had felt when James had glared at her in the morning.

James was about to lunge for Joshua again, when the cafeteria's double doors opened and McGonagall walked in with a first year. It looked like the boy had gone to tell the head that a fight had broken out.

Lily saw James glance at the first year boy first; he glared at him and then looked up at Mrs Hunter.

"POTTER, MY OFFICE, NOW." She barked and pointed towards the doors.

James shrugged his arms out of Jess's grip and made to march through the double doors, but not before his fist made contact with Joshua's nose. Blood spilled out from Joshua's nose. He swore loudly and covered his nose with his hand.

"Wow, that must have hurt." Winced Lily in pain, who was covering her own nose, as if James had somehow punched her.

"Right, everyone get back to whatever you were doing before." Called out the Deputy and people either turned back to their tables or were still queuing up for food.

"You're right, you know, it must have hurt. Have you seen James's muscles?" Said Sam dreamily as she put chips in her tray.

"What has that got to do with anything?" Lily looked at Sam disbelievingly. "Anyway, he always gets away with it. Whether it's his fault or not."

"Yeah, but it might not be his fault here, you know," Sam defended him, and stopped to pick up a can of coke as they made their way back to their table.

"What is wrong with you?" Lily looked at Sam and didn't think she had seen her before.

"What do you think happened?" Sam said, completely ignoring Lily. They sat down on their table and Alex McDean, Summer's so-called friend joined them.

"You haven't heard?" He said as he sat down next to Summer. "Joshua tried to rape Jess near the biology corridor."

"You're joking?" asked Lily. That couldn't be true can it? Jess had just started high school.

"Nope! That's what I heard from Jack McKenn." He replied, his mouth full of Summer's chips.

"Wow!" Lily gaped open mouthed.

"You already said that before." Angel pointed out rudely.

"Yeah, in a different situation." Lily told her.

"See, James was right. You wouldn't want your sister to get raped now, would you?" Sam asked triumphantly. Let's just say Sam has a little 'thing' for James, shall we?

"No, but it's not as if he's any better. The most he's ever lasted with his girlfriend was one week. And that was when we were in second year with Gemma Hood. Remember?" Lily tapped her temple with her forefinger.

"Yeah whatever. You will never see the good side of him, because you hate him." Sam retorted.

Lily ignored her and turned towards Alex.

"So, how's it going?" She asked.

"What? You mean life?" He said whilst stuffing another chip into his mouth. "I managed to land myself in double D.T today just for asking Miss Tee about her partner, Rachel. She blew at me and handed me my detention slip."

"You've got D.T too?" Summer brightened up. "She gave it to me for no reason. Well, at least I have you for company."

The doorbell rang, just as Alex was about to reply. But instead he waved at them and disappeared through the crowd.

"That boy so likes you, you know?" Lily said to Summer.

"He does not like me. And we are just friends." Summer replied, using the famous line.

"Remember what we used to say before?" Lily looked at the rest.

"You're in Deanial." All three of them chorused together.

"No I'm not." Wailed Summer, to which no-one bothered to listen. They were well used to Summer's attitude. Summer, who had liked Alex since Year 8, always swore and said they were nothing but friends. Even though, it seemed that she spent more time at Alex's house than her own, helping him mind his younger siblings.

It was half past three when Summer waved goodbye to her friends and made her way towards the detention room next to the heads office.

"Hey, wait up!" called out a voice from behind her. She turned around and the dark face of one of her favorite people in the world loomed out from one of the dimly lit corridors.

"Hey." She greeted him as he came closer.

"You OK?" Alex asked.

"Great. You?"

"Good. Good." He said and he casually swung his arm around Summer's shoulder.

A chill ran through her body at his touch. She vowed not to tell her friends about this. They'll surely make something up to tease her. And there was no question of them reading into it as usual.

"How's Jack and Rosemary?" She asked him.

"Great. They miss you." He told her with a smile.

"Are you free today? Shall I come over?" she asked him hopefully. His siblings were just an excuse for her to see him.

"Umm...no. We're not going to be home," he said awkwardly. "Sorry, maybe next time, yeah?"

"Yeah." She looked at his face, but he was trying to avoid her eyes. She knew from his tone that he was hiding something. But she decided not to ask as he would tell her in his own time. He definitely wasn't going anywhere.

Actually he never went anywhere. He just didn't have the time, with having a four year old brother and a six year old sister to look after. His father died six months after Jack was born and his mother had been seriously ill with a disease and had died a year back, leaving Jack and Rosemary in their only brother's care. Alex didn't even mind. He was devoted to his duties. Always ready to give his brother and sister what they wanted.

He would wake up early in the morning to iron their school uniform. He would help his grandmother – Nana Moon – make their breakfast, which was always a major ordeal, having to prepare three separate breakfasts for each of them, for none of them quite liked the same food as the other.

Summer knew this, because she had been to Alex's house many times, trying her best to help him out if needed.

Then after dropping the kids off to school, they would run towards their own school, arriving exactly two minutes before the final bell rang, both panting heavily and trying to regain their breaths before class. Although it was tiring, and it meant less sleep for Summer, nonetheless, she enjoyed it as much as hanging one with her friends. And it wasn't as if she was walking to school with him everyday, just two out of six, at the least.

Because he's a friend too, she told herself. No matter how many times her friends told her that deep down she likes Alex more than a friend, she didn't believe it. She knew it couldn't be true. And she liked it that they were friends and nothing else. Because he made her happy. She enjoyed and valued his company sometimes above her own friends. Her loyal and supportive friends had a very nasty habit though.

Alex's skin was not like theirs, in fact it sort of resembled the galaxy chocolate, only a tad bit darker. And her friends would comment on his skin colour.

Summer knew her friends had nothing against dark people, least of all Lily, who had liked a slightly dark person when she was twelve, she had also sent him a love letter, which had been the talk of Keswick for a long time and still was sometimes.

Summer had nicknamed Alex as "Shama," a secret she was going to keep from her friends for as long as she could, until unless one day it just slips out, which will then, instigate a whole life time of merciless teasing.

She didn't mind much, because she knew her friends would never mean it that way really. It was to tease her and wind her up because racism was a topic in which she would get wound up easily.

It was nearly five to four when she realised she hadn't written a single line that she was told to write of the essay, she was too caught up in Alex's world.

"You coming?" She asked him.

"Can't, D.D.T." He replied grimly.

"Right then, see you later," She said as she got up and quietly slipped out of the classroom, with a hurried wave to Alex.

**A/N: please leave a wonderful review!**

**I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget wht you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.**

**so, review and make me feel awesome!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry to those who have been persistently telling me to update. The chapter was written, but I just couldn't be bothered updating. Sorry, won't happen again.**

**Anyway, thanks a million to those who reviewed. And they are: aasiya333, Addictedtothis123, wannabeme15, .me333, Angelroo, xxxklutzxxx, AMathGenius, fanficfangirlforever! And also thanks to court18294 for favouriting my story.**

**Although, I am a little disappointed with Irish4eva for not reviewing! (Hope she gets the hint)!**

**Okay, errors in the previous chapter: They're sitting in the cafeteria, and instead of saying the bell rang, i wrote the doorbell rang..I've got this ridiculous habit of checking my chapters**_**after**_**I've updated it.**

**Anyway, just wanted to warn you, that some of the jokes(if they can be called that) might not make sense to you, but please bear with me, I had to write them. They're inside jokes. Anyway, that's it for now. Now enjoy the story. And do NOT forget to review!**

Chapter 4

It was late on Saturday evening when Lily rang Summer's doorbell, all ready and equipped to spend a night at the Meads. Summer opened the front door to let her in and rushed back inside without a word of greeting. She looked frantic as she ran up the stairs, nearly tripping over a pair of shoes that were lying on the steps. Lily let herself in the house and followed her upstairs to put her bags in Summer's room. Sam and Angel were already there; Angel furiously typing away on her laptop, with Sam looking over her shoulder.

"Hey guys." Lily greeted them warmly as she stowed away her bags behind Summer's bed.

"Hi." They replied in unison and looked at each other before bursting out into laughter.

"What's up with Summer?" Lily asked, plopping herself down on the bed, trying to arrange the pillows on it so they can sit comfortably.

"Her parents are going to drop off her cousins." Explained Angel as she went back to her laptop. "She's helping them pack. And we're going to be home alone."

Just then Summer burst into the room, panting furiously. She leaned against the wall and took a deep, heavy breath before looking at them with a beaming smile.

"Finally, they're gone." She said as she flopped down on the bed next to Lily. "Let's grab something to eat before we do anything."

"Have you decided what movie we're going to watch tonight?" Sam asked Summer as they ran downstairs into the kitchen. Summer's kitchen was a lot like Lily's own: Not too big, but also not too small; with the dining table situated right in the middle. The walls were coloured in pale peach colour, but Summer's dad had a habit of changing the décor every so often.

"Lily said she's bringing something." Summer replied, looking over at Lily. "Please, tell me you've brought it."

"Yep, I decided on 'Knight and Day'." Lily grinned, clearly satisfied by her choice. "You know…the one with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz?"

"Err, yeah, the one you've been going on about for hmm... only a couple of months." Angel scowled at her.

"Shut up." Lily threw a spoon in her direction, but Angel moved out of the way expertly.

"The only reason you want to watch it is because of Tom Cruise." Summer said, as she struggled to take the chips and pizza out of the oven at the same time. "And what happened to Leonardo DiCaprio?"

"Who said there's only place for one?" Lily answered her.

"Tom Cruise is nearly fifty, Lily." Sam shook her head at Lily.

"And you're point is..." Lily challenged her.

"OK, OK." Summer stood in between them. "Now listen, after we've eaten, we make our way upstairs and please someone tell me you've got free minutes on your phone." She looked at them, waiting with a slightly pleading look on her face.

"Chill, I've got loads." Lily told her and Summer's face relaxed. "Anyway, the best thing is, we don't have to use 141, because my number is changing tomorrow."

"Good, because I've not pranked since ages." Summer said.

After eight, they hurried back up the stairs with buckets of sweet popcorn and a few drinks, ready to watch a movie and make other people's lives miserable by pranking them.

"Right." Summer said, taking charge and calling for attention, holding up Lily's phone and a DVD in her hands. "What do you want to do first? Movie or prank?"

"I vote for pranking." Angel mumbled between mouthfuls of popcorn, ignoring Lily as she raised her hands in protest. "We can watch the movie later, otherwise people will go to sleep if it's gets too late."

"Yeah, but that's the whole point of pranking, waking people up and annoying them." Lily stared at Angel exasperatedly.

"Sorry, Lils. You had your way with the movie." Summer shrugged. "Pranking it is then, girls."

Summer turned on the CD player and put on Celine Dion's 'My heart will go on' in the background. Much to the annoyance of Sam and Angel, who despised slow songs with their hearts. Lily and Summer had many similarities, and this was one of them: listening to a nice, slow and romantic tune. Lily didn't understand why you would listen to a song if the words didn't mean anything.

Summer took out a crumpled sheet of paper from her jeans pocket. "I managed to get some contacts from Sally Magambo, and a few from my cousins." She explained. "So, who first?"

"Just dial any." Lily said, standing up to turn up the volume of the song. "Not like we know anyone."

"True that." Summer grabbed Lily's phone and punched in the number from the top of the paper. "So, what should I say?"

"Have you added 141?" Sam reminded her.

"No need." Lily shook her head, taking a sip of her drinking. "I told you it's going to change tomorrow."

"OK, then. Now tell me what to say." Summer asked again.

"Let me start." Lily held out her hand for the phone.

"Fine." Summer pouted sulkily, handing over the phone. "What are _you_ going to say?"

"Wait and see." Lily said, flicking her hair back, trying to act cool. The others raised their eyebrows. "What?"

"Nothing." Angel said, shrugging.

"Yeah, you're still uncool. No matter how much you try." Sam muttered.

Lily scowled at her. Sam was right; she had no idea what she was going to say. However, they weren't to know that.

"Whatever." She pressed the call button on her phone and waited for someone to pick up their phone. After what seemed like the tenth ring, it went onto voice mail.

"Well, _that_ was useless." Angel said sarcastically, while Summer dialed another number.

"Here, try this." Lily took the phone from Summer's outstretched arm.

This time someone picked up their phone just after the third ring, just as Lily was about to end the call.

"Hello?" She called into the phone.

"Who's this?" Asked a male voice. And Lily excitedly looked at the others, giving them thumbs up. Hearing a guy's voice always got Lily excited. Especially those male and manly sounding ones, like the one who had just spoken.

"It's a boy." She mouthed. Then she focused on to the other side of the phone.

"Where are you?" She cried into the phone, making her tone accusatory. "I've been trying to get hold of you since ages."

"What the hell?" He seemed to be talking to someone next to him. "Somebody's trying to prank. What do you want?"

"Nothing." Lily flirted effortlessly, twisting her hair with her fingers. "Just wanted to hear your voice again."

"Have you got nothing better to do?" He asked moodily. He sounded like someone who had never smiled before, let alone somebody who would play along with a prank. Nevertheless, Lily decided to carry on.

"Better than talking to you, you mean?"

"Yeah, go annoy someone else." He said, irritated.

"I know you don't know me, but as a human, you can at least speak to me nicely." Lily said innocently. "I wanted to tell you something."

"Who are you?" He asked her, as if he hadn't heard her.

"Err, as a human, I need to protect my identity from strangers." Lily said, stalling for time. She looked at others, asking them to help her out. "Sorry, can't tell you my name."

"Just tell him it begins with an X." Summer said, and the others laughed as they tried to get a DVD into the DVD player.

"Fine, I'll tell you." Lily said, pretending to be defeated. "It begins with the letter X."

"Good thinking, but no one's name really begins with an X." He scoffed at her.

"Laugh all you want at my name, but there's a Xenophilius in the Harry Potter books, if you've read them. And then there's my name."

"Sure, which doesn't exist."

"Yes, it does." She defended her poor made up name.

"Fine, then tell me your second name." He challenged.

"Don't really have one." She said quickly, whilst trying to think up an unusual name that might go with X.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." He laughed. "Any way, you said you wanted to tell me something. What is it?"

"Not sure you'll agree to it now." She said sullenly, playing with the popcorn in her hand. "Seeing as the way you're talking to me."

Lily glanced at the others, but they were no longer paying attention to her, too busy trying to get the DVD to work.

"No, no. Tell me." He insisted. "My feelings towards you are great."

"It's OK. There's no need." She made an attempt to change the subject, because honestly, she had no idea what she was going to say. "What are you doing?"

"Why are you even asking me these questions?" He laughed. "You don't even know me."

"Neither do you, but I don't see you struggling for words."

"Ah, but you're the one asking questions. I'm just being a good human and replying. It's easy, you should try it sometimes."

"OK, but you didn't answer my question." She tried again.

"Which one?" He asked.

"The one about what you're doing?"

"As I said, you don't know me." He chuckled. "Hell, you don't even know my name."

"You don't know mine either," She paused. "But that's completely irrelevant to my question."

"You're pushy, you know." He mused. "Especially with people you don't know. And for your information, I'm out tonight."

"That still doesn't answer my question." Lily pressed, trying to get him annoyed. And besides, she didn't have anything better to say. She wasn't about to admit this to him or her friends, so she carried on.

"I'm out with a couple of my friends." He replied.

"Good for you, but you still haven't answered my question." She repeated.

"Right, I don't have time for this." He decided. "I'm going to go."

"OK, bye." Said Lily cheerfully.

"Bye to you too." He said taken aback. He probably thought I'd argue, Lily laughed to herself.

"Put the phone down then." Lily insisted when he didn't cut the line off.

"I will, when _you_do." He said.

"We'll be here for a long time then." Lily said wickedly. "You don't want to hang up, nor do you want to talk to me, what _do_ you want to do?"

"No, I _do_ want to talk to you," He disagreed. "Just tell me who you are. It'll make me open up to you more quickly."

"I don't want you to open up to me." Lily scoffed. "I'm just pranking. And to tell you the truth, I have no idea who you are either."

"It's Saturday night, so I'm out with a couple of friends, drinking and just having fun." He said. "The opposite of what you're doing."

"You drink?" Lily asked, aghast. Lily didn't go out much, so she hadn't seen many people drinking. And thankfully, no one drank in her family. Not that she knew, anyway. She hoped no one did…

"Err, yeah." He said, as if it was obvious. "Why? You don't?"

"How old are you?" Asked Lily, ignoring his question.

"How old do I sound?"

"Sixteen? Seventeen?" Lily said. "Younger?"

"Well done." He cheered. "I'm seventeen."

"You shouldn't be drinking, you know that, right?" She said seriously, no longer teasing. She always got angry and wound up if anyone touched on touchy subjects such as these.

"Don't worry." He laughed amusingly, probably wondering who was she to tell him what to do when she had no idea who he was. "I can handle myself."

"No, seriously. Alcohol can damage you and ruin your life. You should _know_ that." She cried.

"Don't get so emotional about it." He teased. "As I said, I can handle it."

"No need to try and act so cool." Lily told him heatedly. "You don't need to impress me."

"I'm not trying to do anything." He defended himself. "This is me all the time."

"Right, then," Lily decided for him. "You need to sort yourself out. Next you'll say something stupid, like, you're on drugs or something."

"I'm not on drugs." He said casually, faltering just a little.

"You're lying." Lily had caught the hesitation.

"I am not!" Came the defensive reply. Almost too defensive, Lily decided.

"Yes, you are. Don't lie to me."

"Why would I lie to _you_?" He said, frustrated. "You forgot that little detail about how I barely even know you."

"I can just tell you're lying." Lily carried on relentlessly.

"OK, even if I do, I'm not saying that I do," He clarified quickly before she had a chance to say anything. "Even if I _do_, what is it to _you_? It's not as if it's harming you in anyway."

"It's for your own good." Lily backtracked.

"I don't f****** care, so why do you?" He swore in anger.

"Fine." Lily said, equally angry, before slamming her phone shut. Lily knew she shouldn't have said anything, but what was wrong with giving a little bit of advice?

"Anger, anger." Summer waggled her finger at Lily.

"I thought it was 'only pranking'." Angel quoted with a wide grin.

"You just had a fight with a random person, whom you have never laid your eyes upon," Sam held out her hand in front of Lily, as if holding out a mike. "How does it feel?"

"I would love to share this exciting moment with you," Lily said sarcastically, shoving Sam's hand away from her. "But seriously, it's none of your business."

"We didn't have any fun pranking, but at least you made yourself another enemy." Sam punched her arm in congratulation. "Well done, Evans."

"You don't have to rewind the movie." Lily said, glaring at Sam. "I've already seen it before."

"Who said we were going to rewind it?" Summer said with a raised eyebrow.

"Let's prank someone else, and this time Lily,_you_'_re_ not talking." Angel said, bouncing on the bed. "We don't want to infuriate more people."

"I'm out. I don't want to prank anyone else." Lily sighed and grabbed the can of coke from Angel's hand.

"Oi!" Angel protested. "I was drinking that."

"Sorry." Lily handed the can back to her after emptying it until the last drop. "I've got a headache and I don't think I'm feeling well."

She lay back down on the bed and looked at the ceiling overhead. The brown and green swirls they had painted the year before stared down at her lazily, making her head whirl. Whether it was because of the fight she had just had, or something else, she didn't know. She sat up suddenly.

"I _really_ don't feel well." She commented, placing a hand on her head. "I think I'm going to be sick."

She sat up gingerly, and then abruptly ran towards the bathroom that was in the far corner of Summer's room. She flung open the door and made it just in time as she threw up noisily in the basin. She breathed a heavy sigh after she thought she was done and washed her mouth thoroughly under the hot water. She took the towel that Summer offered her, and carefully wiped her mouth on it.

"Are you OK?" Summer asked with concern, supporting her back to the others.

"Do you mind if I lie down?" Lily managed to croak, her throat felt all funny and her mouth had a disgusting vomity taste in it. "I doubt I'll be able to do anything with you guys today."

"Don't worry; we're just going to finish off the movie and go to sleep." Summer told her.

"OK." Lily said sleepily as she climbed in Summer's bed, snuggling close in the blankets.

Lily woke up suddenly, with a familiar sickly feeling in her stomach. She felt around her and switched on the lamp. She stood up from the bed and her foot landed on something soft and jelly-like. She jumped when she heard someone yelp from underneath where she was standing.

"Aarrggghh." Came Angel's muffled voice.

"Sorry, sorry." Lily apologized, dodging away from Angel's flaying arms. "What are you _doing_ down there?"

"We don't all get sick and bag the beds like _you_ did." Retorted Angel, obviously irritated.

"I did _not_do it on purpose." Lily said, covering her mouth with both hands. "Angel?"

But Angel didn't reply, it seemed that she was lost to the world.

"Sam?" Lily tried next. "Sam?"

"Hmmm." Sam mumbled but didn't stir.

"Sam?" Lily shook her.

"What?" Sam shot up angrily.

"I'm going to be sick."

"Get the bin then."

"Sam I'm going to be really sick." Lily whimpered, trying hard not to open her mouth too wide.

"Then, run to the bathroom." Sam looked at her groggily.

"I can't see through the lamp light."

"Then bloody open the tube light." Sam snapped, before getting up to switch on the light.

Lily blinked against the bright light and Summer jolted awake, moaning. Lily ran to the bathroom once again, banging open the door with a wild crash.

"What's going on?" Summer asked Sam, rubbing her eyes and squinting in the light.

"Lily bloody Evans was sick, so she decided to wake up half the population of England." Sam grumbled as she burrowed back into her sleeping bag.

"Sorry, but I didn't know what to do." Lily came back wiping her hands on her T-shirt. "Goodnight."

"Just go to sleep." Said Sam angrily, before drifting off to sleep.

**A/N: I'm sure I mentioned something about reviews!**

**Please...puppy dog eyes?**

**Love, Me**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys, I would just like to hand out a basket full swizzle's fizzy love heart sweets(Lily's favourite) to: Wannabeme, .me333, theMathgenius, aasiya333, Addictedtothis123, fanficfangirlforever for reviewing. It means a lot that you did. I love you guys, like literally...**

**And people have asked if the guy on the phone is James or not...I have a bit more twist to the story then just making them fall for each other like that. That's why in the summary, it says Lily has to choose from two. Anyway, Love you guys for reviewing(Even if you're just being nice.)**

**And it doesn't have to be nice comments, give me constructive feedback on how to improve myself...but don't be too rude! (Or else, I'm asking you to give me back my baskets of sweets.)**

**Anyway, Enjoy!**

**Chapter 5**

It was several minutes past nine when Lily woke up the next day to find the room empty. The sunlight streamed in through the curtains, forcing her to squint in the bright sunlight. The room was tidy, except for the bed she had been sleeping in.

She groaned as she climbed out of bed to go the bathroom to freshen up. Trust her friends to wake up hours early even at a sleepover.

She dried herself and dressed in the same clothes she had worn yesterday. She pulled her hair up in a loose pony tail after brushing out the tangles.

Her phone blared just as she started to pack her bags. She picked it up and tucked it between her ear and shoulder, continuing to pack.

"Hello?" She straightened out her bag from underneath, finding a sweet wrapper from it's depth as she did so. Then she put her book bag in it

"Hey," The voice was slightly familiar. She looked at her phone, but she didn't recognise the number.

"Who's this?" She asked, folding up her pyjamas and stacking them on top of her book bag.

"It's me, remember, from yesterday?" He prompted.

"Yesterday? Who are you...oh!" She exclaimed as the bulb went _ting_ in her head. "The alcohol freak."

"Well, that's one way you could describe me." He laughed.

"What do you want?" Lily asked.

"Nothing, just want to talk to you. Is that a problem?"

"Hahaha, very funny." She laughed sarcastically. "Seriously, what is it that you want?"

"Nothing. I meant it when I said I want to talk to you." He said, his tone full of sincerity.

"About what?" She asked suspiciously; this was the same guy who had sworn at her yesterday. What's there not to be suspicious about?

"It doesn't have to be about something." He replied. "I simply _liked_ talking to you."

"Right, because that's not what it sounded like yesterday," Lily accused as she finished packing up all her things.

"Yeah, yeah…I'm _really_ sorry about that. I didn't mean to get pissed." He apologised, but Lily wasn't sure of his sincerity. "Yesterday, I was a little drunk and I don't think I realised what I was saying. "

"Wait a second," Lily paused as something clicked in her mind. "How are you ringing me back?"

"I_did_ think it was a little strange when you're number wasn't on private." He told her.

"Yeah, I know, it wasn't on private." She said. "My number was meant to change today. You aren't supposed to be able to ring me."

"Looks like it hasn't changed. And it's a good thing it hasn't; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to call you back." He sounded pleased by this revelation.

"I didn't ask you to call me back." Lily said, a little irritably.

"Come on, you wanted me to call you back, didn't you?" He teased. "Or else you would have put your number on private."

"I did _not_ want you to call me back." She said hotly. "Like I said, my number was meant to change today."

"Chill out, I'm only messing." He laughed.

"So, honestly now, what do you want?" Lily asked, and then groaned as something came to her mind. "Look, I'm sorry if I offended you by pranking, but please, if this is your idea of some kind of revenge, then just..."

"Stop! Stop!" He cut in. "It's not revenge. I told you I want to talk to you."

"I'm sorry, but_I_ don't." Lily snapped, now a little convinced that he wasn't out to get get her back. Not that there was anything to get back at, Lily hadn't done anything. Well, atleast not in her book, she hasn't.

"OK, at least hear me out," He waited. "I'm sorry, I was a d**k yesterday. You were just pranking, having fun and what not. I had no right to spoil it for you by getting you upset."

"Yeah, you've told me all this before." She said impatiently. "Why do you want to talk to me?"

"Just. It was nice talking to you yesterday." He hesitated a little. "And I regretted snapping at you as soon as you put the phone down."

"Can we talk later? I need to be somewhere right now. You can ring later." She said, standing up from the bed. The others would kill her if she stayed up here any longer. She was known for waking up late and had been told off for it enough times. She didn't want yet another telling off.

"Ok, talk to you later." He said before he rang off.

After packing her bags fully and making sure she had everything, she brought them down. She made her way towards the kitchen and saw that the others were seated at the table, and had nearly finished breakfast.

"Hey." She greeted them, grabbing a bowl from Angel's hand who glared at her.

"You could try waking up earlier on sleepovers, Lily." Sam said.

"I did wake up at nine."Lily protested. But she couldn't really blame them; the clock in front of her showed her that it was five to ten.

"Yeah, sure, we believe you." Angel nodded sarcastically.

"Seriously, guys, I did and I was packing," Lily hesitated, not sure whether to tell them or not. "And the time flew by. You know how it is."

She wasn't sure why she didn't confide in them that he had rang. Whether it was because of Sam's teasing or something else, Lily had no idea.

Just then, Angel's phone rang and someone horned outside. Angel glanced at her phone screen before looking at Sam.

"That's my brother; do you want a lift?" She asked.

Sam nodded, already picking up her bags. They waved goodbye, promising to meet them in school.

"Shee Ya." Lily said, her mouth full of Crunchy nut Clusters. Summer went after them to close the door and came back looking haggard.

"I'm knackered." She groaned as she sat down at the dining table. "I hardly got any sleep yesterday."

"Sorry."Lily said with an apologetic face, thinking it was because of her. "But I was ill."

"It wasn't you. I just couldn't sleep after my eyes opened when you went to the bathroom." Summer sighed.

"Where's Rochelle?"Lily suddenly remembered Summer's ten year old sister, who was always making a noise when they were around. Lily was surprised she hadn't remembered earlier.

"Went with Mum and Dad yesterday." Summer said reminded her.

"Well, guess what?" Lily said brightly. "I've got a date with my older brother today."

"Jake?" Summer asked.

"Nope. Jeremy." Lily said as she stood up and put the cereal bowl in the sink and gave it a rinse. "We're going to watch Titanic together."

"How many times have you watched that thing?" Summer asked in disgust.

"Hey, I thought you liked Titanic?" Lily protested.

"I do. But you've watched it how many times?"

"That doesn't matter." Lily said. True, it had been more than a just _few_ times, but that wasn't relevant at the moment. "The movie is the main thing. Oh, and Leonardo."

"Right." Summer said as she sat down next to Lily.

They both jumped when Lily's phone rang, making Summer bang her head on the wall behind her. She rubbed her forehead and cursed Lily's phone to the deepest pits of hell.

"Hello?" Lily answered her phone.

"Hey, it's me." He said cheerfully. Lily groaned when she recognised his voice and lowered the phone volume from the side of her phone.

"Is it later yet?" He laughed at her reaction.

"I'm coming home in a bit. Talk to you then." Lily said and hastily put the phone away without waiting for his reply. Then she turned to Summer who gave her a quizzical look. "It was Jeremy. He's waiting for me. So, I'm going to go."

"Bye." Lily called after her as she seized her bags and hurried through the doors.

Lily's phone rang again as she left the house but she ignored it and continued walking towards her house, which was just a few streets away from Summer's. Lily still didn't understand why she wasn't telling the others that the 'prank guy' had phoned her again and wanted to talk to her. But she knew they would probably be angry that he had actually phoned her back when he had upset her so much. Or that they wouldn't care and tease her about it.

The phone rang again a couple of times, but she continued to pretend it wasn't ringing and walked into her house. Jeremy was waiting for her when she got in through her front door, waving a DVD in his hand.

"Hey," He greeted her with a wide grin. "Everything's ready. Get ready while I make some microwave popcorn."

"Thanks, Jeremy," She shot him a grateful smile before she skipped upstairs to her room. She was surprised that he was being so nice to her about watching Titanic again. Usually, they would always have an argument over it if Lily suggested it on a family night.

Her room was the biggest room in her house. The king sized bed in the centre of the room could be seen as soon as you enter the room. A small bedside table stood next to the bed, bearing a photo of her and the girls that they had taken when they had gone to Blackpool the year before. Alongside it was another photo of her and Olivia, her younger sister. On the other side of her bed, stood a book shelf that reached high to the ceiling. It contained all the books that she had ever owned since she had been three years old.

There was a tiny passage way that led the way to the bathroom on the right. Opposite to the bathroom was a walk-in closet which contained a few racks of shoes and couple of long railings of clothes.

Lily placed her bags into the closet and made her way towards Jeremy's room. She searched through his wardrobe until she found a large, comfortable looking t-shirt. She undressed and flung the t-shirt over herself and went downstairs, hoping Jeremy wouldn't notice.

After three hours of endless agony and pain, Lily stood up. The movie had been, as usual, brilliant and had made Lily cry as much as she had cried when she had seen the movie for the first time, if not more. Her heart throbbed for Jack Dawson and she moaned about it to Jeremy. It didn't seem matter to that her that he didn't actually exist.

"I so wish he hadn't died." She sighed. "We could've gotten married at some point, you know."

"Leonardo DiCaprio is still alive." Jeremy said with a laugh, picking up the empty packets of popcorn and chucking it at her to throw in the bin.

"Yeah, I know and everyone knows he's mine." Lily scowled at him, standing up and stretching herself. After watching a new movie, it was a tradition for the girls to "Wikipedia" the leading characters and claim them as their own, before the others could. And Leonardo had been announced hers since they had first seen the movie.

"Hmmm, you're right." Jeremy teased. "Everyone besides him."

Lily was about to launch a pillow in his direction when the house phone rang, instead she made to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Lily?" Summer shrieked down the phone. "Where the hell have you been? And why the hell weren't you answering your phone? I rang and I rang and I rang and I've even left you a few indecent messages and..."

"Whoa, whoa, calm down." Lily said. "My phone's upstairs and I told you I was watching Titanic with Jeremy, remember?"

"I phoned you so many times, but you didn't answer." She finished lamely.

"Yeah, I know, sorry." Lily said. "What did you want?"

"Nothing." Summer said, "Did you watch Jack?"

"Yes, And oh my god." Lily said with her hand on her stomach. "I've got the worst dose of tingly feelings ever."

"I know." Summer said knowingly. "Now you're going to go upstairs, lie on your bed, put blankets around you, switch on Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' and do..."

"Do episodes." Lily finished for her. "Okay, I've got to go, bye."

Episode was just another sophisticated word for fantasize in the girl's dictionary. Which the girls were experts at. After their hearts were set on a boy, their minds were constantly set on episodes.

Lily climbed the stairs and took her phone out of her bag to check Summer's messages. She stopped in her tracks when she looked at the screen: There were twenty four missed calls waiting for her. Twenty one from the number she had slightly begun to recognize and three were from Summer.

She dialled the first number, waiting for him to pick up the phone. He answered on the second ring.

"What the hell do you want from me?" She asked him as angrily as she could.

"Hi to you too." He greeted her icily. "Why didn't you pick up your phone? I've been trying to ring you since ages. What's the..."

"Stop." Lily cut him off. "Why I didn't pick my phone up is no business of yours. And I told you I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, but you didn't specify a time, so I was confused."

"Now, this is the last time I'm asking you." Lily said seriously as she paced up and down her room.

"Wait, wait." He stopped her. "Just tell me what you were doing?"

"Watching Titanic." She answered automatically. She always was very passionate about Titanic. "It's one of my favourite movies of all time." She couldn't help but add in.

"That shit!" He mocked. "You couldn't find anything else?"

"Oi, shut up." Lily said hotly. "Never ever insult Titanic in front me."

"Yeah, but it's a stupid movie." He tried to reason with her. "What is there to watch in that f****** thing?"

"Will you stop swearing?" She scolded him. "And it's 'love' that you watch in the movie. You probably didn't have the right company when you watched it."

"I've not watched it." He said.

"No way!" She exclaimed disbelievingly. "Then how can you say anything bad about the movie?"

"Cause all I've heard about the movie is that it's sad and the guy falls for the girl in just a couple of days. You can't know a person in a day or two!"

"You're talking to me." She said heatedly. "And you've not even known me for two days."

"Yeah, but I'm not falling for you." He said.

"If you watch the movie with good company," said Lily, ignoring his comment. "You might actually like it. I know I love it and I've watched it a million times."

"You're probably in love with the guy more than the movie." He said.

"I am not!" Lily retorted. "Leonardo DiCaprio is to die for, but I'm not love with Titanic because of him."

"Sure, sure." He said, winding her up even more.

"You are unbelievable!" Lily cried out furiously. Who did he think he was? "First of all, you've not even _seen_the movie, second, you assume that I like the guy and not the movie and..."

"Wait." He interrupted her. "So tell me, you've never liked Leonardo DiCaprio before?"

"Of course I have." Said Lily indignantly. "I live for guys on T.V. Most of them are my boyfriends, some have married me and some haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting me."

"Seriously, you're crazy." He laughed. "You don't even know those celebrities and you fall in love with them. Imagine they're some kind of sadists or something."

"They are just my partners." Said Lily. It was hard not to fall into this silly banter with him. It didn't feel much different to when she talked to her friends. "It's better than having a real person as your boyfriend who, by the way, is guaranteed to break your heart into many pieces. Some of which are invisible even to the eye."

"Stereotypical." He said. "Stereotypical is what I call you. One of your boyfriends probably did that to you and now you're saying every guy is like that. You're afraid to meet someone you like, in case they break your heart too."

"Nobody's ever done anything to me." Lily said, irritated. "I've never given them the chance to."

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused.

"I've never been out with anyone." Lily said, as if it was obvious.

"You've never dated?" He asked, incredulously.

"Yep. What's wrong with that?" She wasn't sure whether she was weird or he was this time.

"N-nothing, err, nothing." He collected himself. "How does it feel not having a boyfriend?"

"You've been there as well, you know. When you were twelve or thirteen. You can't have forgotten already?" Lily asked.

She stood and started to unpack her bag. Her stomach filled with a dull feeling when she thought of school tomorrow.

"I had my first date when I was six and a half with a girl called Hailey." He said. And Lily gasped. Who was she talking to?

"And how many girlfriends have you had since then?" Lily asked.

"I was thinking, let's not got there." He said and made an attempt to change the subject. "Anyway, what other movies do you like?"

"Very good at changing the topic, but not as well as me at keeping the topic flowing. So how many? Spill." She ordered.

"Seriously, how am I meant to remember?" He said, a little embarrassed.

"Are you one of the boys who damages hearts?" Asked Lily suddenly. But he stayed quiet. "You are, aren't you?"

"I never said anything." He said.

"Exactly. Your silence confirmed it." Lily said triumphantly. "You've probably let girls down by text or not turned up on your dates and stuff. You are, aren't you?"

"Look, I've gotta go." He said.

"Wait, don't go yet." Lily said, with a slight pleading tone. Why she said that, she had no idea. But it was good talking to him. "Won't you tell me your name before you go?"

"Jack." He said. "Jack Dawson."

"Ha, ha. Very funny." She said sarcastically. "What's your real name?"

"My name _is_ Jack, just not your Jack." He said. "What's yours? I'll call you my Rose, shall I?

"Fine, Rose it is then." Lily said. "Do you really have to go or were you just trying to get out of answering?"

"Both." He said. "Can I ask you something?"

"You sound horribly like me, you know?" She said as she recalled how she had asked him the same thing yesterday.

"Funny." He laughed apprehensively.

"Are you nervous?" She asked him, with surprise.

"No!" He said, but a little too quickly.

"Jack!" Lily whined. It felt funny and weird, calling him Jack.

"My name suits your lips." He said cheekily.

"Oh, shut up." Said Lily, feeling blood creep up on her cheeks. "What did you want to ask me?"

"Look, next time, yeah?" He said, clearly not wanting to tell her. Which only made her want to know more.

"Come on, Jack, tell me." Lily persisted. "Listen, if it's embarrassing then I promise I won't laugh. What's on your mind?"

"You." He teased her.

"Ha-ha. Now tell me." Lily said seriously.

"I don't know what your reaction is going to be, but please control yourself." He warned her.

"Ok. I've pressed in my cheeks so I don't laugh." Lily said.

"If that's the case then how are you speaking?"

"Jack, stop trying to change the subject." Lily said sternly.

"Sorry, ok." He took a deep breath in. "Look, I know it's so soon and we don't know each other, but we can try, right?"

"Try what?" Lily asked in confusion.

"Do you? Will you...urrghh; I've done it a million times before, why can't I do it now? Ok, you know what? I'm just going to say it now." He said firmly. "Do you think you can go out with me?"

Lily didn't know what to say, besides stare at her reflection stupidly as she stood before the mirror.

"Rose? Are you there? Rose?" He asked. "Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"Sorry, I was, err, just thinking." Lily stuttered. What was she suppose to say to that? But a little part of her did a little dance in victory. She'd just been asked out by a guy. Not that she was going to agree to that.

"Sorry, I really have to go now." He said.

"No, wait." Lily hesitated. "Jack, I can't."

"Sorry?"

"I can't go out with you. You know at least that much about me, right?" She said, feeling awful inside.

"I might sound rude, but why not?" He_did_ sound rude and it reminded her of the Jack she had pranked yesterday.

"I don't date." Lily said simply.

"What about all the other guys who you die over?" Jack said and he sounded a little annoyed.

"They're celebrities, Jack. I told you I've never dated before." Lily tried to make him understand.

"There's a first time for everything, you know?" He said icily.

"Why are you talking to me like that?" Lily said, trying hard not to get worked up.

"Like what?" He demanded.

"There it is again. I would never..." Lily began.

"Date a guy." Jack spoke. "I know. You said it like a hundred times."

"But you don't get it, do you?" Lily was definitely angry now.

"There's nothing to get." Jack said, equally angry. "I just asked you to go out with me and you just didn't reply."

"What was I meant to say?" Lily asked, trying to keep her anger in control.

"How about 'yes'?"

"And if I don't want to say 'yes'?" She quoted the word.

"Tell me one reason why you don't want to." He said, and it seemed as though he was trying to keep calm too.

"Oh, there are plenty." She said without thinking. How about the fact that she didn't know him at all. Yesterday, he had been reluctant to answer her questions because she was a stranger and today, he was all for asking her out. That said plenty about the guy.

"Yeah? Like what?"

"You drink," Lily counted down on her fingers. She didn't really care what she was saying to him. It wasn't as though they were ever going to talk again. "You smoke, you swear. Dating different girls is your hobby. What do you_not_ do? Oh, and I forgot, there's something wrong with your brain because you do drugs. Now, you tell me, who would date someone like that?"

"Right, OK. Thanks for telling me all this." His said, his voice muffled by his hand as if it was pressing down on his mouth. "It was very much appreciated."

"Oh, Jack, I'm so sorry." Lily sighed. She hadn't meant to say anything, it was just him pressuring her. "I wasn't thinking. I didn't realize what I was saying."

"What you said was the truth. And truth hurts, remember?" He said quietly. "Hey, gotta go, bye."

"Jack, you've been saying that all this time. Jack. Listen, wait." She said but he had already put the phone the down. Lily dialled his number again and waited for him to pick it up. She was just about to put it down when he answered.

"What?" He spat.

"Look, I just want to apologize." Lily said, feeling dreadful. "It wasn't nice."

"No need." He said. "You don't need to apologize."

"I do. I shouldn't have said anything." She took a deep breath. "What you do is your own business."

"You didn't have to go out with me." He said, trying to shift the blame from her shoulders. "I guess I didn't take it very well. It's because I've never been turned down before."

"And I've never been out with anyone, so I wouldn't know what to be like around you." Lily said. This was true. She would never know how to behave as his girlfriend. Girlfriend, gag.

"You be yourself." He said. "That's what it's all about. When you go out with someone, you are _yourself_, you are honest with them and they're always there for you."

"That's another thing, and please don't take it badly." Lily said with caution, not sure whether he'll be able to take this at all. "Would _you_ be there for me?"

"What do you mean?"Jack asked, confusion colouring his tone.

"The way you talked, I've got you down as someone who is not exactly there for you." Lily waited with baited breath, hoping he wouldn't get mad again. "Like you wouldn't be there at the unexpected times."

"Of, course, I would be there." He said seriously. "When the time comes."

"From what I gathered, you sounded like one of those people who we call 'Players'." Lily said. "Excuse the cliché, but you seem like those who 'change girls like underwear'."

"I'm not a player." He said furiously. "I just like to enjoy myself."

"I'm not saying you _are_ one," Lily placated him. "Just that you sound like one. You dump them by text. That's really low. If you ever did that to me, I would never talk to you again _or_ forgive you."

"I admit I do that." He said. "But only sometimes. But I could change for you, Rose. _You_ could change me. My problems that you so kindly pointed out to me, you can change that in me."

"What? Stop you from drinking and stuff?" Lily scoffed. "That would be hard and I don't have any patience in me."

"You don't have to be patient." He pleaded. "You seem like good person and I like you."

Lily's stomach did a somersault. It was an overwhelming feeling, having someone say this to you in real life, instead of dreaming about it in episodes.

"And you don't need to worry about how you would act around me," He continued, somehow gaining courage from his previous sentence. "We were fine before I asked you out. It didn't feel like I was talking to a stranger and it felt good. And it seemed that you were enjoying yourself too, the way you were so comfortable in talking to me and everything."

"That's the way I talk to every guy, not that I talk to many." She said, surprised.

"What? Flirt?" Jack laughed.

"I was _not_ flirting with you." She cried outrageously.

"You've not heard yourself talk then." He said. "Okay, now, seriously. I don't understand how you don't want to go out with me, if you can talk to me and tell me _why_ you don't."

"I don't know." Lily shrugged. "I've always been open with everyone. But I suppose I don't want to go out with you because I don't want to get hurt by you. It's simple really, when you put your mind to it."

"I thought you would be used to the hurt by now." He said amusingly. "What with you and your celebrity boyfriend break-ups."

"Don't worry, I can handle all that." Lily said. "But I'm not sure about this."

"How can you doubt a relationship, even before it begins?" Asked Jack disbelievingly.

"I'm not doubting it." Lily said hurriedly. "If you did something to me and let me down for whatever reason, then it would hurt like hell."

"I wouldn't hurt you though, I promise." He said earnestly.

"You can't promise something like that," Lily said. She climbed up on her windowsill and stared down at her street below, wondering where this conversation was going, "Especially not when it's not in your hands."

"Fine, then. I will promise and the most I can do is try to keep it."He sighed.

"I have a friend called Summer and she's friends with this guy called Alex," Lily said, thinking about her friend's relationship. "And they are such great mates. Me and my friends think they like each other, but Summer denies it and Alex doesn't have the courage to ask her out, but they are so sweet together."

"Sorry for asking, but what are you trying to say?" He asked a little impatiently.

"That _I_ want someone like that." Lily said, equally impatient. "They _care_for each other, so much that it hurts to watch. Whenever we're doing something, first they think about each other. Tell me, would _you_?"

"If someone had asked me that," He said slowly and thoughtfully. "_Before_ I had talked to you, I would have laughed in your face. But now that I have, I would at least think before laughing in your face. That's quite a big change for me."

"Take this seriously, Jack." Lily said, but she couldn't help smiling a little as she heard him laugh. She liked this Jack, the one that found things amusing instead of getting angry with her. "Do you mean everything you're telling me?"

"Yes, Rose." He said. "Just tell Alex to give me some useful tips."

"Does that mean you're falling for me?"

"Where are you taking this?" He asked suspiciously.

"Just answer." Lily pressed him.

"I-y-yeah." He said. "You could call it that."

"Then why did you say that you can't fall for someone in a couple of days." Lily grinned. Ah, the feeling you get when you can rub it in someone's face. "Don't deny it; you did exactly what _my_Jack did."

"Oh, shut up." He said.

"I _did_ tell you not to mess with Titanic." Lily reminded him.

"I'm sorry." He amended. "I will never do such a thing again."

"Apology accepted." Lily said as she stood up to go downstairs to eat.

"So, what do you say?" Jack asked, hesitating a little.

"About what?"

"Me and you."

"Hmmm, we'll see about that." Lily teased, but then suddenly turned serious. "Don't make me regret it, Jack, I trust you."

"You won't regret it and you can trust me." He repeated after her.

"OK, now,_I_ have to go." Lily said, rubbing her tummy. If she was truthful to herself, she actually didn't want to put the phone down. It was nice talking to him, she admitted to herself, but vowed never to mention it to him. "I'm really hungry."

"F**k!" He swore suddenly.

"Jack!" Lily gasped in shock. She really hated it when he swore. "Why the hell did you swear?"

"Sorry." He said. "It's seven and I was supposed to meet my dad about an hour ago."

"What?" Lily wheeled around to check her clock. She had been talking to him for nearly three hours. "You can't be serious."

"See, I told you we'd be good together." He said softly.

"Yeah, and I told you we'll see." Lily clutched her stomach as a warm feeling ran through her body. He should refrain from saying things like this to her, if he actually cared about her well being. Not that he does. Yet. "You should go now or your dad might get mad at you, if he's not mad already."

"OK, talk to you later." He said hurriedly and put the phone down.

Lily sighed and lay down on her bed. But she was feeling too giddy after talking to him. She couldn't wait to tell her friends about this. He was exactly like her fantasy character. Although, she would rather not acknowledge his problems. She hadn't even liked Jack just a while before, she mused to herself, and now she hadn't wanted to put the phone down.

"Just hope it's worth it." She muttered to herself before heading down to the kitchen to fill her ravenous stomach.

**A/N:Please, review! It gives me tingly feelings when you do, and also inspires and encourages me to update faster...please, please...**

**And I'm going to be introducing a new character in the next chapter! Hmm, Rosie Adams! (Lily's pregnant neighbour)!**

**And, Thank you for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hey guys, I know nobody's waiting for it, so I'm not going to embarrass myself by saying sorry for the long wait! Anyway, I'm really anxious about this chapter, i kind wrote it last year when I was sixteen, and now that I've turned a year older, it seems a little childish. Will you please let me know me know how it goes.

There's a few things I'd like to discuss with you guys, I'll number them, shall I?

(1) This is Chapter 6, and I've still not written a single disclaimer. Well, let me just get it over and done with. My dear readers, everything you have been reading all this(which I pretended was all mine), is not mine. It belongs to the J.k Rowling!

(2) I'd like to warn my reviewers about my silly habit of stalking them. As soon as I see your name in my Hotmail Inbox, you kind of seem really important to me. So, sorry for the scare.

(3) I'd always like to warn you guys that some things are really really childish, so please me which ones in the review. But again, don't be too harsh. As I said, I wrote all this last year.

(4) Some things are also very far fetched, but please bear with me! I need them to be far fetched. Just like J.K, otherwise we would not have had Harry Potter (I mean, have you ever seen a flying motorbike in our world? Or heard a werewolf howl? Unless, you know, someone's snoring like a howling Remus.

(5) In nearly every single review, it says my last two chapters had been really awesome. So what about the first three, eh? I'm only joking, I think these are really crap too.

(6) malfoy4eva: do i know you? It's because I stalked-I mean, intensely researched you-and you seem a new person to fan fiction, cause you joined very recently and you mentioned ME in YOUR profile. Or have you previously been reading and reviewing anonymously?

(7) Finally, my lovely reviewers: aasiya333, .me333, themathgenius, Malfoy4eva12, wannabeme15, addicted to this123, fanficfangirlforever, senta1000, iloveharrypotterforever(me too), Essie!

(8) And thank you guys soo much for either favoriting or alerting my story: luckylucylovegood, siriuslyme3, may , ThexHeartx! I know you guys alerted it and favourited it, which means atleast you're interested, but please can you review and tell me how I did...please!

(9) Siriusly, I love you guys so much. You put a big smile on my face. You guys are the Lily to my James! Please continue reading and reviewing!

(10) Can anyone let me know how to check how many hits this story has, also can you tell me how to check my reviews without going on Hotmail? (Or is that not possible?)

Chapter 6

"Are you Ok?" Summer asked her quietly, her tone full of concern. "You've been pretty quiet all day."

They were seated in the cafeteria in their lunch hour, the girls talking animatedly about useless things, but Lily wasn't paying attention to any of the girl's conversation.

"Still not over Jack's death, Lily?" Teased Sam. Lily winced at the name, but then she remembered that she had watched Titanic yesterday. They teased her every time they found out that she had been watching the movie.

"Nah, it's because she's not over the fact that Leonardo's not hers yet." Angel put in.

"Shut up, guys." Lily tried to tune them out without success. She didn't know how to tell them about Jack, or how they'd take it.

She sighed inside. Since she had said goodbye to him, she hadn't been able to think about anything else, which she didn't understand at all seeing as she hadn't even wanted to talk to him in the first place. She had spent the rest of the day prancing around the room happily, ignoring Jeremy and Jay as they commented on her being strangely weird.

Jack had sent her a text, saying that he was sorry he was busy and couldn't talk. Lily had gotten so excited that she couldn't think of anything to write back that was suitable.

It was so silly, she told herself, to feel like this about a person she had just met a couple of days ago. But this was Lily. She had always been like this. A little compliment would easily make her day and make her head grow a bit more larger. And the amount of times he had said tinglyfied things to her...

"Lily?" Angel began.

"Shut up." Lily cut her off firmly. She was trying to think of a good way to tell them.

"I don't shut up," Summer said slowly and Lily groaned. This was the ritual they had been carrying out for a couple of years, ever since they had watched an old movie called Stand by me.

"And when I look at you," Angel glanced at Summer and Sam.

"I throw up." They chorused together.

"And then Potter comes around and licks it all up." Lily joined in with a smile. She was enjoying the image her mind had created. The others were throwing meaningful glances over her shoulder. Lily looked behind and turned back round.

"Really," She said closed her eyes for a moment. "You could've told me."

"Lick what up, Barbie?" Lily heard the awful sound of James Potter's voice.

Lily turned around and glared at him. Oh, how much she hated it when he called her that.

"None of your business, Potter." Lily spat at him.

"Actually, you'll find that it is my business." He said as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "If I'm going to be licking up whatever you just said." He smirked.

"Well, that's what you get for eavesdropping." Lily said and made to turn around but Jamie caught her wrist and pulled her against him. He was touching her, holding her so close she could even smell his cologne.

"Whatever you have to say about me," He sneered, slightly twisting her hand. "You can say it to my face."

"Get off me!" Lily cried, wrenching her hand out of his hard grip. He let her go after a few good tries.

"See you around, Barbie." He waved cheerfully and walked away.

"That guy has no idea what he's doing." Lily said threateningly, rubbing her wrist.

"What _is_ he doing?" Angel asked innocently. It was one of the girls' favourite activities to annoy Lily where James was concerned. And they had no doubt that it would wind her up.

"It's like he doesn't even notice us lot." Summer said, taking a bite of her burger. "He walks in and he can see just you. It's kind of weird."

"It is." Sam agreed, nodding her head gravely. "I mean, I bet he wouldn't even know our names if you asked him."

"He wouldn't know Lily's either, you know." Angel smiled. "He's been calling her Barbie lately."

"Shut your mouth." Lily threw a few fries in Angel's direction and the others laughed.

"So what's up, Lily?" Summer turned her attention to her. "And please don't say "oh nothing". It irritates me to death."

"Guys," Lily whined.

"Only girls here, Lily." Angel corrected her, trying to maintain a serious expression.

Lily kicked her hard under the table, making Angel cry out in pain.

"Ouch!" She glared at Lily, massaging her foot. "What did you do that for?"

Lily ignored her and took a long sip of her drink. "I've got to tell you something."

She looked down at her food, afraid to look into their faces.

"Don't tell me you k..." Angel began, but fell silent when Summer shot her a 'stay quiet' look. "I mean, go on and tell us, Lils."

"Thank you, Angel." Lily gave her a sarcastic smile and looked around at the others. "I'm going to sound really, really stupid," She said with a small voice. "But _don't_ call me that. Or at least, not to my face anyway."

"You wouldn't blame me though, would you?" Angel asked, dodging out of Lily's reach.

"Do you remember the prank on Saturday?" Lily asked, playing with her hair. The others nodded. Sam, rather enthusiastically, resembling a very eager student.

"What about it?" Summer looked at her in confusion. Lily wrung her hand her hands nervously.

"Do you remember the guy I talked to?" Asked Lily. "Well, he rang me back."

"What?" Summer choked on her drink. How dramatic. "I thought your number was going to change?"

"It was, but it didn't." Lily said simply. "That's how you could ring me yesterday. The number didn't change and I have no idea why."

"_Why_ did he phone you?" Sam asked impatiently.

"_When_ did he phone you?" Summer corrected her.

"Err, _what_ did he say?" Angel said, as if it was obvious that her question was the most important.

"He phoned me when I was at your house." She looked at Summer.

"I did wake up early, but I was on the phone with him. Then he rang again when I was leaving your house. And after I finished watching Titanic and went upstairs to check my messages, I saw about twenty missed calls from him."

"Why?" Sam wondered out loud, as if she couldn't think of a reason why a guy would want to talk to Lily.

"Apparently, he wanted to talk to me." Lily answered her. "First I thought he was trying to get back at me, but then I realised he just, genuinely, wanted to talk to me."

"But why?" Angel asked.

"After talking to me for a while," Lily continued, putting her hands around her neck, placing her elbows on the table. "He asked me out."

"What the..." was all Sam said as her eyes turned big.

"What a creep." Angel shuddered. "Hope you told him that."

"What did you say?" Summer asked her urgently. "Did you laugh in his face or what?"

"Don't shout at me, but I told him yeah. After a lot of persuasion."

"What?"

"Why?"

Sam put the back of her hand on Lily's head, checking if her temperature was at the right level.

"Guys, stop it." Lily sighed. "I knew you were going to react like this."

"Well, what did you expect?" Summer demanded. "Have you even considered how dangerous this is?"

"How can this be dangerous?"

"Think, Lily." Angel tapped her finger in her temple, all cheeriness gone, replaced by seriousness, which was hardly ever there on her face. "Do you even know who he is?"

"Yes," Lily told her obstinately. "His name is Jack and he sounds like a normal sixteen year old guy."

"No, you've just heard him," Sam corrected her. "You've not seen him."

"For all you know, he could be a paedophile or a really bad person." Summer nodded vigorously.

"Or a psychopath or a rapist," Angel said wisely. "You never know."

"He's none of those things," Lily said hotly, "You haven't even talked to him and you're just assuming things."

"We're not, Lily." Summer tried to explain. "You're sticking up for a guy you don't know. Does that sound like Lily Evans?"

"_You_ can talk to him and decide for yourself what he's like." Lily pouted. Half of Lily knew what they were saying was true, but the other half, the more prominent half was ridiculously stubborn and intent on not letting them ruin her buzz.

"Lily, stop this!" Sam commanded. "We're not..."

"No, you can talk to him," Lily said firmly. "And tell me whether or not he's a rapist."

"Fine, let's change this subject now." Angel said, trying to lighten the tension. But Lily was already mad at them for doubting her judgment.

"I'm going to go," Lily picked up her bag. "There's only a couple of minutes left to English."

The others groaned, knowing that Lily was in one of her moods - which would, unfortunately for them, last for quite a while.

"Come on." Summer said, standing up and heading after Lily.

"James, pick a partner." The teacher called out. English was once again a bore. Mrs Jones was trying to pair everyone up, but they were too rowdy and busy in their shenanigans to take any notice of the instruction thrown at them.

"Yes, Miss." James said, and Mrs Jones blinked in surprise. Out of all people, James Potter? "I'd like to work with my Barbie over there, if you don't mind."

He pointed at Lily and grinned largely as she scowled in his direction. She saw Sirius high five him over the table, as well as Naomi's glare from across the classroom towards herself.

"Why the hell does he want to pair up with me?" She groaned to the others. She could refuse to do so, but she knew it would create a bit of a fuss.

"He probably likes you, you know," said Angel, playing with her nail file. "I mean, it happens. For instance, in Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice and the other guy hate each other and they end up married later on."

"It could be true." Sam agreed with her. "Although, I'm not sure that Bee ends up marrying him."

"It _could_ happen," James' voice came from the back, making Lily clutch her hair in despair. The others were laughing at her, imitating her reaction and grinning at James. Especially, Lily noticed, Sam. He came and stood behind her chair, grabbed her hands and started removing them from her hair.

"Your hair's beautiful, Lily." He pretended to chide her, fingering her truly beautiful red locks. "No need to pull them out."

"Yet." He added after a second thought, which for some reason Lily couldn't imagine, made Sam giggle.

She stood up angrily, purposefully scraping her chair back onto his foot.

"Ouch!" He yelped in pain, but immediately composed his as he saw Lily's smug smile. Then he hurried after her as she marched towards the table right opposite to the teacher's desk.

"Why here, my dear?" He asked, pulling a chair out for her, but Lily stepped around him and sat down at the chair next to the one he had pulled out.

"Alright, then," He sighed dramatically. "You can sit there, if you want. But why this table, Lillian? Right in front of the teacher?"

Lily ignored him and started to read her notes. Lily had chosen this table deliberately so that he wouldn't have the chance to make mischief and get her into trouble. But her theory was proved to be wrong when Mrs Jones concentrated on the people who were sitting at the back, constantly standing up to answer their questions, leaving her no time to spare for the pupils sitting at the front.

"Lily dear, can we please not fight?" He asked with his innocent eyes, which Lily saw were a beautiful hazel shade, with a just a bit of green in them. Why had she never noticed the beautiful colour of his eyes? "It hurts me to even think about it."

"Shut up." She snapped at him. "And please don't make silly comments, they don't suit you."

"Touché." He said, leaning away from her. "Talk about not having a sense of humour."

"No, I just don't have James humour." Lily was quick to correct him.

"Sure sure." He said, laughing at her.

Lily was saved from having to come up with a good reply by the arrival of a tall girl, much taller than Lily anyway, who was only five foot one. She had shoulder length, brown hair. She was dressed in her uniform, just like the rest of them, but somehow she looked somewhat different. It somehow looked more like outdoor clothes than their uniform, which fitted her waist quite perfectly. Lily's eyes noticed the newcomer's heels, which seemed at least three to four inches high. And there was no doubt in Lily's mind that she would be told off for wearing them. All in all, Lily thought she'd get along splendidly with Naomi McCord.

She had the most beautiful blue eyes, which showed how nervous she was inside. She was clutching a ring binder in one hand, which shook a little as she knocked on the already opened classroom door.

"Wow!" Lily's partner whistled as he appraised her slender figure. "We don't find people like her here anymore."

Lily shook her head at him, disgusted at his behaviour. She had never seen a male whore before, until of course, she met James. Once she had heard rumours circling the school that he had slept with more than half the population of Keswick. Lily wasn't sure whether that included boys or not. How had she ever crushed on him before?

"Have you never seen a girl before?" She asked him.

"Yeah, but not one like her." He said, pointing at the new girl, his eyes transfixed on her. "That's like, wow, beautiful." He breathed.

"Ok, back to earth." Lily snapped her fingers at him, annoyed. "You can start working now."

"Jealous are you?" He teased her, and again she noticed how his eyes sparkled.

"I'm not..." Lily rose in protest. But Mrs Jones, bless her, came to her rescue.

"Potter?" She reprimanded him sternly. "Put your eyes back into those sockets of yours. You can go join Lily and James at the first table and introduce yourself to the class after this lesson ends." She added to the tall girl, who was still stood at the door.

"Thanks, Mrs Jones." She said a little shyly after glancing at something on her file. Then she made her way towards them, walking slowly, yet firmly.

"Hey." She sat on the chair next to James and extended her hand towards Lily. Ok, Lily thought worriedly, that was definitely not Naomi behaviour. "I'm Nicky."

"Lily," She stretched out her hand in return. "Lily Evans."

Nicky turned to look at James and stifled a laugh.

"You must be James, am I right?" She asked with a big smile. Lily wanted to smack her. What was there to smile about? And where had her confidence come from? Usually, everyone was shy to talk to him.

"Yeah." He said. "James Potter. Welcome to Keswick High School."

Now, that was a first for James Potter, Lily thought sarcastically. Normally, he tended to ignore the newcomers.

"Thanks." Nicky said and turned back to Lily. That too seemed very weird to Lily, who had witnessed new girls staring at James and not being able to take their eyes off him. She probably knew that he was vain and there was no point in going after people like that. Clever girl, Lily congratulated her mentally. She might like her after all. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Well, we're meant to be working on the Romeo and Juliet, but..." Lily looked at James, who too had noticed the lack of interest from Nicky. Lily smiled inwardly with satisfaction. "Why did you pick me as your partner?"

"I like you, and you like me." He pointed first at her and then toward himself, leaning back on his chair. "What's not to get?"

"That's definitely not the case." Lily informed Nicky, before any insane ideas start to form in her mind. "Me and him don't get along at all, which I'm sure you'll notice in the upcoming future."

"I'm sure I will." Nicky laughed. Apparently, she _did_ think there was something to laugh about.

"Fine, Barbie." James snapped, most probably because Lily was actually humiliating him in front of Nicky, his next prey, which would most likely end up as his great conquest. "Get to work."

"Don't you dare speak to me like that!" Lily retaliated, anger flaring up in her body from nowhere. "For the first and last time, my name is _not_Barbie."

"To me, it is." He said, playing with his hair, all fake pretence gone from his features and his tone resumed the way it was whenever he spoke to Lily, which was usually brisk and sarcastic. "Seriously, get over yourself, Evans."

"If you're trying to impress Nicky," Lily's voice trembled a little, trying to keep her tears in and also trying very hard not to let him get to her. But it was proving to be very difficult. Any minute now she might just start crying. "It's not working. She's disgusted by your behaviour."

She hoped so, anyway. Not that she could turn towards her to confirm this.

Everyone's heads started to turn to the front of the class. Try as she might, Lily couldn't get her voice to speak quieter. Sam and Summer were about to come over to her, but Mrs Jones beat them to it.

"Detention, both of you." She barked loudly, making everyone jump in their seats. "I will not be tolerating this any longer. Every lesson, every _single_ lesson, we have you two fighting and trying to distract the class deliberately, trying to attract attention..."

"Mrs Jones?" Nicky interrupted her, with an apologetic smile. All the heads swiveled around to stare at her. "Lily didn't instigate this fight."

Now, Lily felt like a monster for having judged her badly. She had a habit like that. She had the tendency to misunderstand and then later she had to apologise with an embarrassing smile.

"Stay quiet, Nicky!" The teacher glared at Nicky, who shrank back in her chair. "You don't know how these lessons progress every day. And you two, there is no need to collect your detention slip. I want you both in the staff room at half three on the dot. Is that understood?"

"But, Mrs Jones..." Lily's voice shook as she tried to defend herself. _This_ was the reason she had chosen the front seat: to avoid this whole fiasco. Please God, she prayed in her mind, please don't let me cry. Not in front of him, please, not...

"Understood?"

"Yes, Ms." Lily nodded but James stayed quiet and unmoving, staring at her openly. Lily wanted to take a swipe at him, but she doubted that would pass unnoticed by the teacher.

"Potter?" Mrs Jones asked impatiently. But Lily knew she wasn't really mad at him. Nobody ever was. They adored him far too much for such a thing.

"Yeah?" He said, lazily turning his head away from Lily to face her.

"Is it understood?"

"What?" He looked confused for a moment. "Oh, yeah, got it, Mrs J."

He nodded at her and showed her a thumbs up, to which she clenched- pretended to, Lily thought- her teeth and walked back to her desk. Lily stood up and sat back down in her own seat, away from him, miserable at the unfairness of it all. He didn't try to stop her, but Nicky followed her. Now, even_she_ had witnessed what it was like to be entertained by a Lily and James fight. She turned away from her; she didn't want her to see her crying on her first day in Keswick.

"You Ok?" She asked, helping Lily pack her bag.

"Yep." Lily said, tight lipped, wiping a tear from her eyes before it could leak away further down her face. Then, without waiting for the others, she walked out of class as soon as the bell rang.

"Come on, quickly, before she gets too far." Summer urged Sam and Angel. If only they had reached her first, they would have managed to stop her from landing in detention. She had a habit of getting upset at detentions, even though she had had her fair share of detentions with the girls.

They were used to this Lily, who ran away every time something like this happened. But they still had to search for her. Otherwise, she'd go in that familiar mood where she wouldn't talk to anyone for days and snap at anyone who so much as spoke to her.

They were aware that James was to blame for the most part, but there was the small portion of blame that lay on Lily's shoulders for letting him get to her. If only she could ignore him when he set out to annoy her. But then, if she _could_do that, then that wouldn't be their Lily Evans.

"Mind if I help?" Nicky asked cautiously, hoping she wasn't being _too_ rude.

"Sure." Summer said to her distractedly, then quickly grabbed her bags and hurried out of the classroom, with the others hot on her heels. They stopped abruptly outside the classroom.

"Which way do you think she went?" Summer turned around to face them.

"This way." Said Sam and Angel simultaneously, each pointing in the opposite directions.

"Why don't you take that way," Nicky said, looking at Angel. "And you and I can take the left."

She gestured towards herself and Sam.

"And I'll try to look wherever I can." Summer finished for her.

"Great, see you in a bit." Nicky flashed her smile and she and Sam disappeared down the corridor towards the Biology class, which was their next lesson.

Summer just stood there, watching the three of them go: she hadn't yet decided which route she would choose to find. Although, she could try the cafeteria, which was Lily's favourite spot in the entire school. Not the cafeteria exactly, but she would love to sit on the wide window sill, overlooking the school grounds. Where she would sit for god knows how long, and do episodes. It would be hard to find her every time they looked for her, because the window in question was at the far end of the cafeteria, half hidden by the huge pot plant and a short wall.

She was dialling Lily's mobile number when she saw Alex coming towards her, wearing one of his most cheerful expressions, which he usually saved especially for her, a way of telling her she looked really pretty, he would say, to which she would roll her eyes and laugh.

"What's up?" He asked when he saw that she was in no mood to joke around.

"Nothing." She said. "Nothing, besides a prick called James Potter, who is set out to ruin Lily's life."

"Oh, them again." Alex nodded his head knowingly. He was up-to-date with these world wars, even though he wasn't in the same class as them.

"Why, what's happened this time?" He guided her back to the classroom with his hand on the small of her back.

"It's the usual," Summer complained, leaning her head on his shoulder as they sat down on one the seats. "He just tries to wind her up and she doesn't get what we're trying to say…he says one word and she'll jump to her defence. Today he picked her as his partner, but made her cry at the end of it. I don't even think the fight was as bad as usual, but Mrs Jones had to go and make things worse by giving her a detention. Alone. With him for company, for god's sake."

Alex rubbed his hand on her lower back as she took it out of her system. He had come looking for her to confide in her about his own problems, but he didn't have the heart to unload his own burden on her when she was clearly so stressed out.

"What to go grab something from the vending machine?" He tempted her. "Coffee, perhaps?"

"I'm meant to be in biology, Alex." Summer told him, but she didn't make an attempt to move away from his side. She liked where she was sitting, with his arm around her. It couldn't get any better, she thought.

"Like you care. Science is the worst subject ever, remember? Not to mention Mrs Unclecle's mood swings." Alex scoffed at her. He stood up, grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her towards the cafeteria.

"Forget Biology, I'm meant to be looking for Lily." Summer whined to him.

"You can find her later. She knows her way round the school." He said and pulled her into the cafeteria. And to their surprise they found Lily sitting on one of the empty tables, along with the cook, having a can of coke and some biscuits.

"Lily!" Summer ran to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Where were you?"

"Here, where you found me." Lily replied icily. She wasn't sure why she was taking it out on Summer, but she knew she had to take it out on _someone_.

"Lily, look, don't be like that with us, Ok?" Summer said, lifting Lily's chin up to look up at her. "What James does to you is awful, but you can't blame us for it. We're trying to help you but we can't if you keep running away from us."

Alex nudged summer and shot her a disbelieving look. He took Summer's place and held Lily by her shoulders. Lily looked up at him expectantly.

"Lily, you Ok?" He asked softly. Lily looked up, her eyes brimming over with tears. Yes, she was known for living in her tears, but seriously, did she have to cry right now? She realised as she cried soundlessly that she actually loathed and hated James Potter, so much so that she would kill him without a second thought.

"Hey, hey, come here." Alex drew her into a hug. "It's going to be fine. You know, he's going to pay for it one day."

"Yeah, remember, 'One Day'." Summer put in. Another one their inside 'quotes'. Whenever there was trouble with someone, they consoled the person with 'One Day', meaning that it'll be fine one day or that whoever did this to you will pay for it one day. It didn't work most of the time, but at least it soothed them for a while.

Alex let go of her and held her arms length. "You okay now?"

"I think so." Lily wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve, reminding herself of a young dirty kid wiping their snot off. "Thanks Shama."

"What?" Both, Alex and Summer, chorused.

"I know you call him Shama." Lily looked at Summer. She had 'Shama' scribbled on many of her papers, and Lily knew it could only mean one thing: Alex. And by the expression on Summer's face, she knew she had hit the mark. "We're not best friends for no reason."

Lily came forward and hugged Summer, but Summer was still in severe shock to respond properly.

"Thanks again, Alex." Lily smiled at him warmly.

"You're good with kids, you know?" Summer said nervously to Alex, recovering from the faux pas and ignoring Alex's questioning looks. "You made her stop crying instantly."

"Very funny." Lily laughed sarcastically. "But you just had to be there."

"Don't go off again." Angel glared at Lily as they made their way home. Having had a terrible day, Lily was a little excited, wondering whether she'll be able to talk to Jack today. Also a little nervous that if he _did_ phone, the girls would talk to him.

"Shut up about today." Lily told her. "It's not my fault you don't have an enemy that hates you back."

"Guys, please." Summer moaned. "You've been at it all day. Give it a rest, will you?"

"Where's Nicky?" Lily asked a little distractedly. Lily had no idea why, but she expected her to be walking home with them after the girls told Lily that she had tried to help her find them.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Well, isn't she coming home with us?"

"Just because she sat with you in English and later helped to find you, no, tried to help us find you," Sam corrected herself. "Doesn't mean she's your best friend."

"Don't be mean Sam." Lily said. "She's nice. And what's more? She is new and she needs friends."

"Those 'friends' don't have to be us, you know?" Angel agreed with Sam.

"Shut up, both of you." Lily said as they rounded a corner to her house. "You can talk to Jack for two minutes and then you can all go home."

"Well, that's nice." Sam said and let herself in the house after Lily. "We've not even been to your house since ages."

"I was only saying, it's not as if you're going to make your way out if I tell you to." Lily rolled her eyes and made their way upstairs after greeting her mum and Jeremy.

"Lily, I want you to drop this off to Rosie's first." Her mum called her inside the kitchen and gestured towards a dish covered in cling film, which Lily knew would be cheese cake. Her pregnant neighbour, Rosie, was a terrible cook. She craved cheese cake and had no idea how to go on about making it. Lily's mum made her a round dish every now and then, so she could get through her pregnancy peacefully.

"Mum, please, in a bit." Lily said pleadingly, before darting upstairs after her friends.

They all gathered around her bed after she changed out of her uniform and dressed straight into her pyjamas.

"Ok, I don't know what to do." Lily admitted after five minutes of debating about whether they should ring or not.

"I thought you said he's not that type of a person." Angel accused. "If he's not dangerous then I'm sure you can phone him when you like without being afraid of death, no?"

"He _isn't_ dangerous." Lily said fiercely. How had the absurd idea even come to their minds? "But we've not been going out for _that_ long to be totally comfortable around each other."

"Yeah…for one whole day, isn't that long, Angel." Summer defended Lily. "But, Lily we've got to move on and phone him now."

She picked up Lily's phone and scrolled down her contacts until she found Jack's number. She pressed the call button and waited while it rang. Lily kept wringing her hands nervously, irritating Sam.

"What the hell are _you_ nervous for?" She asked, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Shut up." Lily told her, not bothering to argue back properly.

"Hello?" Summer said, trying to quieten them down with her hands. "Is this Jack?""

Summer pressed the loudspeaker button and placed the phone on the bed for everyone to hear.

"Jack who?" His voice drifted out loudly from Lily's phone. Lily's heart skipped a beat, sighing with relief. He was real after all.

"Jack?" Lily called into the phone.

"Rose?" He sounded surprised.

"Yeah. Don't you have me saved on your phone?" She asked.

"Errm, yeah, I do. But I didn't check the caller ID, so I didn't realise." He said. "Hey, how are you?"

"Err, great." Lily grimaced. Was it just because her friends were here or was it just her, because it didn't really feel like their conversation was going great. It just- Lily searched for the right word- it just didn't have same buzz as yesterday. Not that she had talked to him that much yet.

"Was that someone else on the phone before?" He asked.

"Err, yeah, that was errm, Summer." She cursed herself for not being able to put even one sentence together without stuttering. "They just wanted to, you know, errm, talk to you."

"Talk to me? Why?" He asked, a little puzzled and a little interested.

"Yeah, err, because..." Lily said, but Sam snatched the phone off her, too impatient to see Lily make a fool out of out herself.

"Because we have to check a couple of things with you if you don't mind," Sam sat down on the bed and the others rearranged themselves around her, pressing their ears to the phone.

"And what might they be?" He asked, amused. "Oh, and is this Summer?"

"No." Sam said, as she tried to calm Summer down, who was happily whooping up and down saying, 'He knows my name, he knows my name.'

"Tell her I can hear her." He said, trying not to laugh.

"Oh." Summer stopped. "Tell him I can hear him too. You're on loudspeaker." She said into the phone.

"Cheers, Summer. Thanks for telling me."

"No problem," Summer shrugged modestly, "any time."

"So, what did you want to know?" He said. "Hopefully, it'll be questions I have answers for."

"It _is_ those questions," Sam said. "But it depends on whether you answer truthfully or not."

"Ok, bring it on." He challenged.

"Ok, are you a...?" Sam paused, unsure of whether to say it or not. She, just like Lily, had no idea who she was talking to.

"A what?" Jack prompted.

"Don't laugh, Ok?" Sam asked him.

"I won't." He promised.

"Ok, then, here it goes." Sam braced herself, willing her mouth to speak the words. "Are you a rapist? You know, someone who rapes innocent girls?"

Lily and the others looked at Sam. Who didn't know what rapist meant? But Sam just shrugged, as if to say 'so what?'

"What?" Jack burst out laughing, despite his promise.

"Are you?" Sam pouted, looking annoyed that he hadn't kept his word.

"No, of course not," he laughed some more. Lily grinned. "What gave you the idea?"

"Ok, fine, how old are you?" Sam ignored him. "And this time, tell the truth."

"What?" He sounded confused. Well, Lily thought, anyone would if they were in his place. "Hey, I'm seventeen. Wait, where are these questions coming from?"

"Are you by any chance a psychopath?" This time it was Angel who posed the question, so as not to be left out in talking to him. "And this is a general question. I would ask anyone, so don't be freaked out."

"Would I tell you even if I _was_ one?" Jack countered.

"Ok, so you're none from the above mentioned?"

"No!" He exclaimed. "Ok, where's Rose?"

"Oh, Rosie, dear, Jackie wants to talk to you." Angel feigned a sickly accent. Lily snatched the phone off her, smacking her arm. She stood up and walked into her walk in closet, turning her phone off loudspeaker.

"Hello? She said a little apprehensively.

"Hey." He greeted her, and Lily could imagine him smiling, although she had no idea what he looked like.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yep, great." He said. "How was your day?"

"It was great." Lily lied easily. "Errm, had lots of fun and everything and we even..."

"You're lying." He broke her off. "I know because you're babbling."

"I am not." Lily retorted, playing with one of her scarves on the railing. How could he tell? She sure wasn't babbling, as he claimed.

"You are." He said. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Trust me, you don't want to get me started." Lily warned him. "It doesn't even matter now."

"Ha!" He said triumphantly. "So you _were_ lying. I caught you red handed, babe."

"Shut up." Lily said sulkily, although pleased that they were talking normally once more, without the err's.

"Ok, sorry. Couldn't help it." He apologised. But it didn't sound like he meant it. "So, what happened?"

"Nothing." Lily shrugged, she didn't really want to get into it. And besides, she feared that he might bore of her if she complained too often. She had seen it happen too many times on TV. So she mentally decided to keep her moans at a minimum level. "Got in a fight at school and landed myself in detention, that's all."

"Hey, I get detentions all the time." He said, as if he was proud of it. "You shouldn't worry about it."

"I know, I know. It's just this guy, urghh, he annoys me so much." She sighed. Minimum level, remember. "Anyway, forget about me, how was your day?"

"Good, good, had a couple of detentions myself." He said, a little distractedly. "Wait, my mum's calling me."

"Oh, right, sure." She said, but he had already gone.

She rummaged through her clothes while she waited for him. She didn't know whether he had heard her or not, when she had told him about James, but he hadn't really reacted much. She wanted someone who would be either jealous or even angry if another boy so much as glanced her way. Ok, she was pushing it too far. Maybe not too over protective and jealous, but at least something should happen in him that might want to punch James, because that's exactly what happened in her fantasies.

But he can't feel that way about you, Lily reasoned with herself. Not yet, anyway. But she hoped he would in the near future.

"Hello? Rose?" Jack's voice brought her out of her episodes.

"Yeah…sorry, I was just in my own world."

"Hey, what were your friends on about?" He said suddenly.

"Oh," Lily hesitated. "Errm…well, okay. When I told them about you, they didn't trust you. They thought you wanted your wicked way with me. Basically, they didn't want me talking to you. So I asked them to talk to you to shut them up."

"So, what do they think of me?" He asked, his voice confident, as if he already knew that the answer was going to be positive.

"I haven't talked to them yet." Lily admitted. "If they don't approve of your conversation, then they, meaning Angel and Sam, will pick on your looks." she said seriously and expertly. She would have done the same thing if she had been in their place. "Hopefully you'll have a satisfactory answer for them."

"Don't worry." He promised. "I won't let you down in that department. I'm very handsome, if I do say so myself."

"You're so full of yourself." Lily said, though hoping he really was saying the truth. Not that she had anything against ugly people, but she wanted someone who she could actually go out about with, not holed up somewhere because she was embarrassed to be seen around with him. And anyway, everyone is beautiful in their own way, even James, she admitted grudgingly.

"But what's the point in lying?" He said cheekily.

"You can try something called 'modesty'." Lily told him. "It's really easy. I'll teach you sometime."

"Yeah, but I like to stick to the truth." He said. "I do look good and those aren't even my words. I get told that all time. It's just that you haven't seen me yet. And when you do, you won't be able to take your eyes off me. Literally, it's happened before."

"You have got a really big ego." Lily said, shaking her head. "Maybe you should calm down now. It's not good for you."

"Yeah, sure." He waved her off. "What about you? Are you okay_ish_ or do we have an ugly duckling?"

"I can't really say I'm ugly because that wouldn't be fair on me. Neither can I say I'm beautiful because I have to practice what I preach."

"Let me ask your friends." He said. "Oh, I forgot. What are they called?"

"You make them sound like dolls." Lily laughed.

"It could have been worse." He said. "So?"

"Well, you already know Summer." Lily said, counting them off her fingers, not that she had many. "And then there is Sam and Angel."

"Hmmm." He mused. "How many do you have?"

"Shut up." Lily said playfully. "They're all good mates. I think."

"Ok, give the phone to them." He said.

"Wait a minute." Lily said and she walked across the closet and opened the door. She jumped back in fright as Summer and Sam rolled into the closet. Their ears had been pressed against the keyhole, no doubt listening to the whole conversation. They straightened up as Lily glared at them. She saw Angel run back to the bed, pretending to have been there all along.

"I was just coming to check..." Summer trailed off.

"Yeah, me too." Sam muttered and tried to hide behind her hair.

"Guys," Lily complained. "You are so rude. You could have just asked me and I wouldn't have gone in."

"Sorry, couldn't help it." Summer said, and suddenly brightened up. "So are you done?"

"No." Lily replied moodily. "He wants to talk to you guys."

"Oooh." Sam and Summer squealed excitedly and Angel bounded right back to join them.

"Did he say me too?" She said, skidding in front of Lily.

"Wow, Jack, you've found yourself a handful of admirers." Lily said into the phone.

"I'm not that surprised, really." He said and Lily rolled her eyes.

Lily handed the phone over to Sam, who then put it on loudspeaker for the rest to hear and managed a hello in a squeaky voice.

"Right back at you. Is it Summer?" He asked.

"No summer's just gone, you idiot, its autumn." Angel said, annoyed that he hadn't said her name instead.

"Funny." He said. "I wanted to ask you, that is your mate worth looking at? And answer truthfully."

"I solemnly swear I'm not going to lie." Summer said. "I value her friendship more than her looks soo..."

"And I wouldn't know whether she is ugly or not, seeing as I've never considered dating her." Sam said and once again Lily rolled her eyes.

"But that doesn't mean she is pretty. Ever wondered why she didn't ever date?" Angel asked him.

"Thanks, guys. Lily?" He called. "I'm sorry, but I can't do us."

"Really?" Lily said with a smile on her lips.

"I'm joking." He said. "Now, what does she really look like?"

"She is 'Ok' looking, but one drawback." Summer said. "Her face is covered in beauty spots."

"Yeah, Summer. It's beauty spots." He said as if talking to a child. "So that's not a drawback. Now, leave her alone."

"Jack?" Lily said, slightly hesitant. "Is it okay if I call you back after?"

"What? Why are you even asking?" He laughed in wonder. "Look, don't worry, if you forget to call me, then I'll call you, Ok?"

"Great, bye." Lily said happily. Can this fantasy get any better?"

"Bye, talk to you in a bit." He said before hanging up.

"Ok, don't say anything yet." Lily faced them with her hands out in front of her to stop them. "Sit down and tell me what you think of him."

"I think he could do so much better." Angel said, dodging out of Lily's reach.

"I thought he was great, but a little distant, don't you think?" Summer said thoughtfully.

"Actually, I thought that too." Lily admitted. "Just at first though, after he was fine. You know, I wish I had recorded yesterday's conversation for you. He was even greater then."

"If you don't want him, then feel free to give him away to me." Sam said dreamily. And Lily groaned.

Later at night, Lily knocked on Rosie's door and waited patiently for someone to open the door. It was several minutes later that the door was opened by a very red Rosie, panting and slightly out of breath.

"Sorry, I was all the way upstairs in the baby's bedroom." She explained apologetically, before ushering Lily inside the warm house. "So, did you bring it?"

"Yes." Lily nodded and unravelled the plastic from the dish before handing it to Rosie, who immediately fetched a spoon and tucked in as if she had never seen food before. Lily watched her fondly and sat down on the one of the sofas. "Hey, where's Aiden?"

"Out." Rosie said between mouthfuls of the delicious dessert. "He wants to live it all before this little one arrives."

At this she patted her stomach affectionately. Lily watched her more closely than before, noticing how tired but happy she looked. Her and Aiden had been together since they had been in high school. After six long years of a beautiful relationship, Aiden had asked her to marry him, and she had obviously accepted. And not long after, Rosie had announced she was carrying his monster of a child. And all he had been able to do was just stare at her stupidly.

Which made Rosie think he hadn't wanted the baby. So she left him. After six months of long, hard persuasion, she relented and let him back in her life. And they had gotten married just a few weeks ago.

Lily sighed heavily and looked at the dish that Rosie was now scraping.

"Tell your mum it was lovely and tell her not to go to so much trouble but can she have another dish ready by tomorrow." Rosie looked at her with hopeful eyes and Lily burst out laughing. "What is so funny?"

"Nothing." Lily shook her head and took the dish from her hands and made towards the door. "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be able to make you some tomorrow."

"Thanks." Rosie thanked her and Lily made her way towards her house, wishing for a life like Rosie's.

A/N: Guys, I bet in some places you were thinking, "why the hell is she writing crap like this?" But sorry, some of it I have to do. and the rest, it just doesn't turn right, so I'm stuck with it. Sorry! Now, I feel upset! Please make me feel good again by reviewing like super fast please!

And watch the movie "Stand by me", it's one of the old ones but really really good. They remind me sooo much of the Marauders: Chris as James, Teddy as Sirius, Gordie as Remus and Vern as peter. They sometimes look the part too, especially Peter and Remus!

And soory about the inside jokes, they must really annoy you, but I have tried to explain to you. The word Episodes might be dropped in often, it means (most of you should know, if not all) making up stories in your head. And that's how exactly i have this story on fanfiction!

Please, Review!


	7. Chapter 7

**(A/N): I'd really like to thank themathgenius, addictedtothis123, aasiya333, lunalilies, book lover!**

**On with the story...**

**Chapter 7**

"Hi." Lily said sleepily.

"Hey, you sleeping?" Jack asked.

"No." Lily yawned and snuggled deeper into her blankets. "But it _is_ late..." She said, glancing at the clock, which showed that it was past twelve o'clock. True to his word, he had rung. Lily sighed happily. I should get used to this, she mused to herself, falling asleep whilst talking to him sounded like the most perfect way to fall asleep.

"Shall I ring you tomorrow?" He asked apologetically.

"No, no," Lily said hastily. Was he insane? "No, don't go."

"Hey, I'm here." He assured her. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I just meant that I'm _meant_ to be asleep." Lily clarified.

"Yeah, and I'm _meant_to letting you go to sleep," He chuckled. "But I don't want to."

"Good, what did you do today?" Lily asked, rolling over to switch on the lamp. "I thought you weren't going to phone. I had given up hope that you would."

"You hoped that I would?" Again, he gave a low chuckle. "You could have phoned me. You know that you _are_ allowed."

"I wasn't sure whether I should." Lily mumbled. In truth, she _had_ actually been unsure about whether she could give him a ring or not. And without her friends encouraging her, she didn't have it in her to try. "And I didn't know whether you would be free or not sooo..."

"Stop making excuses." He teased her. "Either you're shy or you had no idea what to say to me."

"It's neither." Lily said, sitting up a little and leaning against her pillow. "Because if I _was_ shy I wouldn't be speaking to you right now. And because I _am_speaking to you, it means I _do_ have something to say."

"Fine, point taken." He admitted defeat. "Have your friends gone?"

"Yes, of course. It _is_ after twelve, you see." Lily said.

"Did you like them or did you think they were childish?" She asked suddenly, her voice sounded a little anxious. In fact, Lily knew that she and friends had a little growing up to do. Jeremy always told her that. She didn't need Jack's opinion to know that they were a bunch of immature teenagers.

"Relax," He said, sensing her anxiety. "They were great. And they are my fans." he said cheekily. "There is nothing childish about that."

"They like you too, you know." She said softly.

"I know, I could tell with all that giggling and squealing in the background. Don't worry," His voice was full of confidence. "I'm used to it. I have to live with that everywhere I go."

"Right," Lily hesitated a little, unsure of whether their relationship had reached a point where her friends were allowed to criticize him. "But Summer thought that,"

"Go on." He prompted her.

"Well, don't take it in a bad way." Lily said. "Even though, Summer, kind of meant it in a bad way, I think. She thought you were a little reserved and kind of distant."

She waited whilst he was silent, nervously waiting for him to speak. And anyway, it hadn't only been Summer who had thought that. She had been feeling the same way.

"I was, I guess. But I was glad that you phoned me, because I was going mad here." He said after a few minutes. He was probably deciding whether he could trust her or not, Lily grimaced to herself.

"Why?" Lily said with genuine concern. "What happened?"

"Nothing." He shrugged. "Just family fights, as usual."

"Why? Has something happened?" Lily said, running her hand through her messy hair.

"No, well, yes." He admitted. "But it happens every f****** day, so it shouldn't really matter."

There was a hint of anger in his voice, which Lily wasn't yet ready to deal with.

"Don't swear, Jack." She chided him softly. "It's not going to sort anything out for you."

"Yeah, but it calms me down." Jack murmured.

"You've got me." Lily said. She couldn't believe these words were coming out of her own mouth. The Lily Evans who had never dated was sat awake, past midnight, talking to a complete stranger. And she wasn't even afraid of what she was doing. "Tell me everything and I'll try to calm you down."

"Thanks, Rose." Jack sighed. And Lily thought to tell him her name, but decided now was not the time. "I hate my family, you know that? Nothing I say matters in this house. So it doesn't even really make a difference if I say anything. And it really gets to me." He said, as his anger flared up again. There was a loud noise from the other side, as he swore again, making Lily wince.

"Jack, calm down." She soothed him. "Did you just throw something?"

He didn't reply, so Lily continued. "Jack, listen to me, calm down and tell me from the beginning, because I have no idea what you're trying to say."

"You'll get bored." He said, and it sounded like he was trying to control his voice. "And I bet you're sleepy."

"Seriously, my sleep evaporated as soon as you rang." Lily said honestly. Like she could even sleep when she knew there was a chance that she could talk to him. "And I promise I will tell you if I get bored."

"_When_ you get bored." He corrected her.

"Jack, tell me." Lily tried to get him to trust her. How hard can it be? "I promise I won't fall asleep on you or get bored."

"OK, my so called bad habits," Jack paused. "Where do you think come from?"

"What habits?" Lily asked, puzzled.

"Drinking and stuff." He snarled impatiently. Lily was glad he hadn't mentioned drugs. Even though Lily had accepted that he was a person to do whatever he did, didn't mean she was used to the thought that he was harming and hurting himself in so many dangerous ways. And let's face it who gets used to their drug-taking boyfriend?

"They're all from my brothers and worst of all, from my own dad." He said, his tone dripping with hatred. "Oh, I hate him so much."

Lily heard him bang his fist against some surface. And she was glad that she wasn't there with him. Otherwise, what might become of her?

"Jack, calm down," Lily begged. "You're going to hurt yourself."

"Like I care." He said angrily. Well, that's nice, the selfish idiot. "Why do you even want to know all this shit?"

"Because I _care_," Lily said, putting emphasis on the last word. And she knew she wasn't just saying it to make him feel better.

"Rose, don't lie. Nobody, not even _you_, can care for someone in two days." He said negatively. And Lily felt like giving him a whole string of swear words.

"Yes, they can." She said obstinately, thinking here we go again, "Because _I_ do."

He didn't say anything. Lily hoped he was thinking over her words. She didn't want to admit it, even to herself, that she was hurt at his reaction. He clearly didn't believe her that she felt that way about him. And that could only mean one thing: He didn't feel that way about her.

Even Lily hadn't meant to like him so easily and quickly. But who wouldn't? And it had hardly been three days. She was meant to keep in her mind that he was a first class player. But she guessed it'd slipped out of her mind.

"Rose," He said softly, pulling her out of her thoughts. "Sorry, I'm being such a prick."

"It's OK." Lily said. "Just trying to tell you that you can confide in me."

"I know, but I've never talked to anyone about this shit." He sighed. "My mate knows, but we never discuss it. It's hard, really hard."

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" Lily said. How long had she been asking him for?

"My dad," He began hesitantly, "Is the biggest alcoholic prick that I've ever seen. And trust me; I know a lot of them. But they are nothing compared to my dad. And because of him, my two elder brothers have turned into d***heads."

"Jack!" Lily snapped in annoyance. What was wrong with him? His swearing even put Jeremy to shame. And everyone knew her brother had swallowed a swearing dictionary when he was around twelve.

"Sorry." He said, but Lily knew he didn't mean it. Swearing was probably his first language.

"So what happened then?" She asked.

"My dad used to drink all the time," He said, his voice straining a little. "He still does. And most of their fights are about the same thing; drinking. And the amount he smoked everyday..."

"It used to make me sick when I was younger," He continued. "But then my brothers started. Not like my dad, but still, they drank and they smoked. And they seemed to love it. _I_ used to love watching my brothers and literally worshiped the ground they walked on. I didn't want to be left out. I remember thinking it was cool to do that stuff. I started to do all that in secret. My brother caught me once. I think I had just turned twelve, he threw a fit. Apparently he didn't want me to be like them, like, getting into drinking and stuff. And they throw a fit every now and again. Anyway my mum goes mental and breaks down and my little sister blames me for everything wrong in this family."

"But Jack, drinking _is_ bad." Lily reasoned with him, she seriously didn't see what the problem was.

"I know, but you have a right to tell me off." He said, fuming. "My brothers don't. They drink themselves."

"But they're only trying to do what's best for you." Lily tried to make him understand. "When you drink, you're harming your body. They are your brothers; do you think they're going to be alright with that?"

"Then why don't they set me an example and quit?" He retorted.

"They're older, so they've been at it for longer than you. It's probably hard for them to quit." Lily said wisely.

"It's hard for me too, Rose." Jack exploded in anger. "It's f****** hard for me too. I've been doing it for a very long time."

Lily backed off, not sure anymore whether she should say anything to him. She hated to admit this to herself, but she was more than a little frightened of him.

"I'm too deep into all this, Rose." He said, a little quieter. "Alcohol, I need it."

"That's pathetic." Lily said bravely. OK, maybe not. But at least she sounded brave.

"What?" Jack said.

"It's pathetic that you have no control over yourself when it comes to alcohol," Her voice seemed to grow louder as she gained courage. "That you have to turn to alcohol to survive. Do you know how stupid that sounds?"

"What are you trying to say? He asked impatiently.

"I don't blame your brothers for what they do." She carried on, although she was a little fearful in case he erupted again. "I would do the same if it was my brother or sister."

"You would hit them?" He asked.

"What?" She gasped in shock. "Th-they hit you?"

"Two of them at the same time, what I am supposed to do?" He asked helplessly.

"What about your mum?" Lily said, still reeling from the shock. She had never been hit by anyone, neither had her friends or brothers as far as she knew. Unless you count the bruised faces they supported when they came home after a brutal fight at school, back when they had been in high school.

"She wants me to stop too, so she only tells them to ease up on me." He said. His voice sounded resigned, no longer angry.

"Oh, Jack." Lily said, not knowing what to say.

"It's OK, really." He murmured. "I'm used to it. It's just that it annoys me that everyone in this family is against me."

"I just care about you, OK?" She comforted him. "I'm not against you. And I certainly will never hit you."

He let out a small laugh, which made Lily grin widely.

"That's because I'm stronger." He teased her. "So you have no choice but to _not_ hit me."

"You have no choice but to not hit me too." She said.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a girl and you won't be able to lift a finger against me."

"That's true." He agreed and went quiet again.

"Jack, seriously," Lily started. "You've got to stop this drinking. It can kill you."

"Everyone has to die one day." He said which made Lily furious. She just didn't understand his attitude.

"That's not even funny, Jack." She scolded. "It's like suicide. And you don't just drink but the rest of the things too. If you don't want to this for yourself then at least do it for me."

"Right, OK," He paused. "But you tell me, how am I meant to do this?"

"Just listen to your brothers, listen to _me_." Lily pleaded. "Just do anything and please stop."

"I'll try." He shrugged.

"And about drugs," Lily asked, not really expecting a truthful answer. "Who do you get them from?"

"This guy," He said vaguely. "You won't know him."

Of course she wouldn't, she felt like saying out loud. She hadn't ever needed to have drugs.

"Jack, stop this." Lily said sternly. "You're ruining yourself."

"And I'm also ruining your sleep." He said, trying to change the subject that he was sorry to have brought up in the first place. "Go to sleep."

"No, I wanna talk to you." She argued stubbornly, feeling like a child.

"You can." He said. "But tomorrow you've got to go school."

"Oh, come on," She said. "Have you never had a sleepover before on a school night?"

"No, I'm a guy," He laughed. And Lily noted how laughter suited him much better than anger. "I don't do sleepovers. Why?"

"Well, you should." She said. "It's where we first met."

"Of course, Rose, next time I will." He said and Lily knew he was mocking her. "So what do you do?"

"Well, we don't sleep at all." She said proudly, like a child bragging about her new toy. In one of their recent sleepovers-not their last one-they had managed to stay awake the entire night. Besides Sam, who had been granted six minute mercy sleep by Summer. In the morning, after a Mcflurry, they slept away through their morning lessons in school.

"Anyway, are you going to sleep too?" She asked hoping for a negative answer.

"Yes, sweetie," He yawned. "It's past two in the morning."

"OK, sorry," She apologized. Where had the time gone? And more surprising was that she hadn't even felt sleepy until he had mentioned it. "Looks like you're sleepy."

"Hey, where do you live?" He asked abruptly.

"Errm, at the top of HalliWell, you know, next to Zafaith." She answered automatically. Then she realized what she'd just told him.

"Why are you asking?" Her voice was full of suspicion.

"Just asking." He said casually, as if he asked this question to everyone he met. "When I need to come and see you in the future."

"Jack, promise you won't." She nearly yelled in the phone.

"What the hell?" He said, taken aback by her reaction. "Why not?"

"Because," Lily tried searching for words to explain to him how she felt about that. Going out with him was a big step for her. And she was determined to stay away for a while. Not forgetting that she wasn't actually ready to meet him. Just thinking about it was scary. "I want to get to know you before I see you and get into a physical relationship."

"Why though?" He asked, confused. "We can do both together."

"Yes, _you_ can. _I_ can't." She said, willing him to understand. It wasn't _that_ difficult. "I've never dated before so I wouldn't ... You know, I've never kissed before."

"You what?" He said, not bothering to hide his shock. Lily could only guess why he was he was so surprised. He'd most probably done more than just kissing. She repressed a shudder and turned down that thought. She was going to avoid going down that lane. He'd obviously slept with- Stop- she forced herself-a lot of gir-STOP!

"I know. I'm sixteen and never been kissed before." She said. She really didn't think she was missing out on much. "So, consider me to be a beginner. I don't know what it's like to be kissed. And if somebody did kiss me, I would be gone. I would be totally in love with him and start planning his kids. Kissing is a really big deal to me. And I don't want to go there with you. Because, no offense, but you don't exactly seem the committing type."

"But, look," He protested. "You can't have no kissing in a relationship. That's like owning a house but not being able to live in it."

"You're more worried about kissing me," Lily observed. "Then actually meeting me and seeing me."

"No, I do want to meet you," He hurriedly corrected her. "But it doesn't matter about seeing you because I know a 100% I won't be disappointed."

"You can't know that." Lily felt heat rushing in her cheeks. God, what was he _doing_ to her?

"Trust me, love, I do." He said softly, making her blush even more.

"OK, but no meetings before getting to know me." She said. "Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." He replied. Lily imagined him saluting her. "OK, now go to sleep."

"You know, we can keep the phone switched on and fall asleep together." Lily suggested.

"I don't want to be rude and wake you up when I hear you snore." He teased her.

"Shut up, moron. I _don't_ snore." She said and he laughed.

"I would love to do that, Rose." He said quietly and Lily's stomach flipped uncontrollably.

"Great then," She yawned and settled back into her warm blankets, draping the duvet over her body before pulling the end of it to cover her feet. She lay her head on her pillow and sighed happily.

"Are you in bed?" She asked him and then blushed at what she had just said.

"Hmm," He said. "I'm cuddling my teddy now."

"You have a teddy?"

"Yes, it's a bear." He joked. "Can't sleep without it."

"Then I wonder why I'm dating a six year old." Lily said, shutting her lamp light.

"Oi! He threatened her. "Don't pick on Snowpants, or I'll be really angry. He's very special to me."

"Snowpants? Honestly?" Lily laughed and tried to restrain herself from yawning.

"It was the first thing that came to my head." He admitted.

"Jack?" Lily murmured.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to sleep now, my eyes keep closing." She said as she yawned again. "But don't put the phone down, OK?"

"Hey, don't worry," He said. "I _want_ to talk to you as well."

"OK, bye." She said sleepily.

"Bye, goodnight." He said. "Sleep tight."

After a minute of silence, Lily spoke again, desperately trying to keep her fluttery eyelids open.

"Jack?" She heard herself say.

"Yes, Rose?"

"You know something?" She said as her closed once again.

"Hmm?" He murmured.

"I think I might be falling for you really hard and I'm scared that it'll hurt." She said before her eyes shut down permanently for the night, although she didn't remember this the next morning.

Lily scrambled out of her bed and glanced at her clock, which showed that it was five to eight.

"Crap!" Lily muttered as she rushed into the bathroom. OK, maybe talking to him until past two in the morning wasn't as good for her as she had previously thought.

After a quick shower, she hurried out of the bathroom, water dripping everywhere as she rushed to her closet and threw her uniform on quickly.

"Bye." She called to her mum as she fastened her boots hastily. Her mum came out of the kitchen and handed her a cereal bar.

"Eat this whilst you wait for your brother." She said.

"Mum," Lily whined. She had no time today. "Please, I can't. I'm getting really late."

"Lily," Her mum looked at her, in a reprimanding manner. "You've not been taking Jay with you since he's started high school, meaning never."

"Today, though, mother," Lily gritted her teeth. She always called her that when she was upset with her. Were parents supposed to be this irritating? "I'm already late."

"Jay, hurry up." Her mum looked towards the kitchen. Then she turned to Lily, who was standing against the front door, ready to bolt out as soon as Jay came. "And, by any chance were you still awake after two?"

Lily froze, forgetting that she was supposed to be angry with her. Her mum absolutely detested any of them staying awake after midnight. She trusted them to go to sleep early on their own. "You're old enough to do what's right on your own." She would say.

"Were you on the phone?" She demanded, looking at her as if she already knew the truth, so there was no point in lying.

"N-yes." Lily looked down, afraid to meet her mum's eyes. She felt like she was being questioned by her teacher for not handing in her work on time. "It won't happen again."

"Who was it?" Her mum said, daring her to lie.

"Mum, it was just Sa-Jack." She cursed herself as she was bullied into saying the truth again.

"Who's that?" Her mum's eyes narrowed - a dangerous sign.

"My boyfriend, I think, sort of." She didn't attempt at lying again, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to. Not when it was her mum at the receiving end of the answers. "Mum, I've got to go school. Jay?"

Jay was her youngest eleven year old brother, who had just started Keswick High School. Lily made a mental note to ask how he found school. She had been too immersed in her friends and Jack to remember trivial things like her brother's first day at school. Although, it _wasn't_ too late, she reminded herself.

"We'll talk about this later." Her mother's words carried over to them in their frantic attempts to get out of the door before the each other.

"We're going to have to run." Lily told Jay as raced towards the school. It was just a faster and better way to make each other run by competing.

"Hey, how's school?" She panted after five minutes of constant running. God! She was so unhealthy. Maybe she should start going for jogs in the morning.

Jay looked at her. "Did mum make you ask me?"

"I am not that bad, Jay." She stopped and glared at him.

"Then why are you asking a week and a half after school started?" He shook his head. "Self-immersed sister, what can you do?"

"At least I asked." Lily shouted after him as disappeared through the school gates. Bloody brothers, who needs them?

She was about to turn in the direction of her own class, when a black car skidded just a few feet away from her. The windows were rolled down and she could hear laughter coming from inside. She turned to glare at the driver for pulling up so close to her, but instead she stopped to stare as she recognized him. She watched as he moved towards the passenger seat and kissed her deeply. She stood there, watching with amazement as Nicky climbed out of the car and turned to kiss him, before realizing Lily was just stood practically next to her.

"Hello, Lily." She called and hurried towards her. "Are you alright about yesterday now?"

"Err," Lily looked at her for a second, yesterday? She sighed as she remembered her fight with James. "Yeah, great. I had forgotten about it until now. Who was that?"

She tried to make her voice sound casual, but even to her own ears it sounded nosy. But Nicky was oblivious to this, too wrapped in her own world.

"Oh, that was Adam." she gushed in reply, "My boyfriend of just about three weeks."

"Right," She said slowly. Although what Nicky had just told her was pretty obvious from what she had just witnessed outside. It came as a shock to her. Her heart had been desperately hoping to be proved wrong. And now, it was also hoping that Angel hadn't been looking out of the window when the car had pulled up. But that was just wishful thinking, she told herself.

"Why do you look surprised?" Nicky focused on her. Was _now_ the time to pay attention, Lily wanted to yell at her. "Do you know him?"

"Oh, err, yeah." Lily stuttered, not sure whether she should be talking or not. "Him and Angel kind of like, have a history."

"OK, weird." Nicky said as they walked into class together.

Lily could tell just by the look on Angel's face that she had, unfortunately, witnessed the whole thing. Surprisingly, the teacher wasn't in class yet, so Lily hurried to Angel's place. She barely even noticed when her nemesis tried to trip her over with his foot. Nicky took her place at the back of the class, hardly noticing Angel.

"Just forget about it." Angel said, trying to turn away from her. But Lily held onto her arm and beckoned Sam and Summer to join them.

"Angel, he's not even worth it." Lily rubbed her back, trying to console her. How could someone promise something to one person and do it with another.

"He's left me hanging since the summer holidays," Angel's voice shook, visibly trying not to cry, "Not a word, a phone call, nothing…nothing but silence."

"Angel, come on, it's not as if you liked him that much." Sam said. But apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.

"Of course I liked him. I liked him a lot." Angel turned on Sam angrily, who backed away from her in horror. "I try not to think about him, but it does hurt to know that a guy asks you out and doesn't even bother to turn up and..."

She trailed off as sobs overtook her and Lily stood up to sit next to her, hugging her closely. She rocked her as she cried, for once not really worried about ruining her makeup.

"Do you know how lucky you are?" Angel shrugged out of Lily's embrace, looking at her with obvious pain in her eyes. "You didn't even want a boyfriend and now you have one and you're always so happy and smiling."

"Shhh." Lily said as she took her in her arms once again, desperately hoping to sooth her. Because, seriously, what was she supposed t say to that? "It's going to be OK."

"Hey, is everything alright?" Nicky asked as she made her way towards them.

Not now. Lily tried to send a brain signal with her eyes, but Nicky's eyes were focused on Angel, who had turned away as soon as she had appeared.

"Yeah, it's fine." Sam said bitterly, with a hint of hatred in her voice. Lily suddenly remembered it had been Sam and Angel who had been awkward about Nicky befriending them. "Angel's just having family problems."

"Right." Nicky nodded and sat down next to Angel.

"What's happening in that corner?" Miss Tee called as she entered their class, making the girls at the back jump with fright.

"One is crying because she's not got a boyfriend and the other one has." Lily heard James say said, turning around to grin at Lily. "It's jealousy between friends, Miss."

"Shut up, Potter." Lily snapped from the back. Did he have to speak at a time like this?

"Ooooh." He continued to smile at her. "Ready for detention or are we going to run again?"

Lily was about to retort with a very rude comment, which would have definitely landed her in a week's detention, but Summer grabbed her hand to stop her. That girl had the best timing skill, Lily thought. She sure wasn't ready to spend her time in the detention room when she could use it to talk to Jack.

"OK, girls, back to your places." Ms Tee said. "Angel, are you alright?"

Angel nodded and buried her head in her bag, pretending to search for a tissue.

"You know the worst thing is that the teachers don't say anything to the slimy git." Lily fumed as she sat down next to Summer. "Every tutorial lesson he has to say something-anything- to get me going."

"Lils, calm down." Summer reached for her bags.

"OK, sorry." Lily apologized. "I know I get a bit annoying when I get started."

"A little bit." Summer smiled at her.

"I'm really worried about Angel." Lily said in an undertone, as Miss Tee began to take the register. "It must be awful for her."

"Here, Miss." Summer said loudly and then turned to Lily, lowering her voice. "She liked him a lot. And she didn't like Nicky from the start. Now she's going to hate her even more."

"We should talk to him, you know," Lily said with a glint in her eye. "And tell him to stick himself where the sun doesn't shine."

"That doesn't even make sense." Summer laughed quietly. Then she turned serious as she realized something. "James must have been listening to us if he knew what we were talking about."

"Don't tell me anything," Lily said as she closed her eyes. "Otherwise, I'll go and smash his head. Seriously, don't say anything about him."

"Anyway, how's Jack?" Summer stirred the subject away from James. "Did he ring you after?"

"Yeah, at midnight," Lily said as she pressed her hands on her stomach willing away a wave of tingly feeling that washed over her body. "And we talked until after two."

"What do you talk about?" Summer asked Lily curiously, looking at her in awe.

"What do _you_and Alex talk about?" Lily smiled and watched Summer as her cheeks turned into a pale pink colour. "We talked about everything. Whatever came to mind… Oh, and he has a really bad temper."

Sam poked her from behind and handed her a note, which Lily unfolded quickly, thinking it was something to do with Angel.

'SHUT UP ABOUT JACK. I want to know what happened. Tell us when we're all together.'

Lily rolled her eyes and passed the not to Summer. Summer smiled wickedly before taking a pen out and scribbling a short note:

"Mwahahaha."

Then she tossed the note behind her. Lily turned around in time to see Angel smile at Summer's note.

"You made Angel smile." Lily said to Summer, giving her a thumbs-up.

"I'm known to do that now and again." Summer said, patting her uniform collar.

"Girls, quiet." Ms Tee called to them sternly. Summer shut up immediately, not wanting to be handed another detention slip in her hand.

**A/N: Err, sorry if it was disappointing or childish(I get called that all the time)! And so please review...please, please...**

**I know I'm making this drug-drinking thing into a big deal, when it doesn't need to be, but you know how it is in fan fiction(you have to have some drama in your life)...forgive me for it, but that's just me! I'm a little dramatic! You won't believe this, but my previous Hotmail was dramaprincess something, before I changed it to something sensible! Lol!**

**Oh yeah, I nearly forgot! Thank you to all my reviewers, especially two newcomers,**_**lunalilies**_**and**_**book lover**_**(you made me tingle all over and**_**book lover**_**, you made me laugh)! And the old ones too, please carry on reading and reviewing! I've got 40 reviews so far!**

**Anyways, review!**

**And thank you for reading.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Hey guys, long time, no see. Sorry for not updating sooner. I just kept puttung it off...won't happen again, I assure you...

**To Reviewers: Addictedtothis123, lunalilies( for some reason, i really like you), aasiya333 (who are you again? lol), fanficfangirlforever, themathegenius, wannabeme15, dreams823, bookguinedganie, crescendo**, Thank you soooo much for alerting, favouriting, reviewing my story, it is much appreciated.

Chapter 8

"So, what you're saying is," Summer said, munching on a chocolate cookie. "Is that he's got a really bad drinking problem?"

"No, what I'm saying is that he's got a really, _really_ bad drinking problem." Lily corrected her, reaching over Sam to get a cookie from Summer's bag.

They had finished eating early so they can take in fresh air and talk about Jack in open air, instead of trying to hear in the din of the cafeteria. Which usually wasn't a problem, but today, James- surprise, surprise- was having a fight with someone. And Lily wasn't in mood to sit there and watch. So they had ventured outside, and were strolling in the grounds.

"It's awful that he gets shit from everyone in his family though." Sam said. "No matter what you do, you need the support."

"Not in this case." Lily said, squinting her eyes in the bright sun. "Secretly, I hope they keep pestering him to quit. Although, I don't like the hitting part."

"And his brothers don't even know about the drugs, yet." Angel pointed out. Lily was pleased to know that discussing Jack's life had lifted her gloomy mood and she was visibly trying very hard to not think about Adam.

"I'd like to tell him off a bit more," Lily said. More like strangle him, she thought, but decided to keep that part to herself. "But I'm scared I'll come across as a nagging person."

The others nodded in agreement. They were walking further away from school, joking and laughing, when they saw Nicky coming towards them. Sam's smile turned into an ugly scowl and Lily saw Angel leave them from the corner of her eye.

"Hey." Nicky said, her eye on Angel's retreating back. "Is everything Ok with Angel?"

"Why?" Lily pretended to look confused. "What do you mean?"

"Every time I come, she seems to be angry and now she just left." Nicky said and guilt ran through Lily's body. "Or maybe I'm just paranoid."

"No, you're not." Summer said quickly. "I mean, she's not running away from you. Don't worry about Angel."

"Yeah." Sam said sarcastically. "It's nothing about Adam or anything like that. She's cool with you and him going out."

"Is it that?" Nicky looked at Lily and Summer. "Is it to do with me and Adam?"

"No. Well, yeah, a little." Lily said apologetically. "It's not you, though. It's Adam. She just can't see you two together."

Nicky nodded, still looking in the direction that Angel had left in. "Did they go out for long?"

"That's the thing." Summer said before Sam could say anything that she might later regret. "They didn't go out at all. He asked her out twice and stood her up both the times."

"And she has to look at him every day because he lives in front of her." Lily added in, feeling a pang of pain for her friend.

"In front him?" Nicky said with wide eyes.

"Yeah, pretty harsh, isn't it?" Sam said, swinging her hair meaningfully at Nicky.

"That's the bell, guys." Lily said hastily, stirring them towards the school. Lily and Summer exchanged a glance that clearly said that they're going to be have to be careful, in case a fight broke out between them.

Lily stood outside the office at home time, waiting for Mrs Jones to take her to her detention.

"Hey, sexy." Came a voice from behind her. She turned around and groaned loudly when she saw James leaning against the wall with one of his leg, playing with a tennis ball.

"Oh, come on." He said, pausing with the ball in his hand. "You can't be that disappointed in seeing in me. I know I'm not."

"Yeah, that's because there's more enjoyment for you by teasing me." Lily snarled at him.

"Don't be so hard on me, baby girl." He said, putting a hand on his heart. "It hurts here."

"Where?" Lily said. She didn't even know why she was bothering with him. She should just probably walk away and later blame it on him. But she knew she wouldn't even get away with it even in her dreams.

"My heart." He said, pointing at his chest.

"You don't even have one, Potter." Lily said, turning back round. "So, quit playing around."

"So you loved a heartless person, then?" He said with a knowing smile on his face.

"What?" Lily whipped her head around so quickly that she almost felt a little dizzy and had to hold the wall to stay upright.

"You heard me." He said, resuming his game with the ball.

"I've never even liked you before." Lily said, hatred clear in her shocked voice, but her heart was racing fast and loud. She had no doubt that he could hear it.

"I know, I didn't understand it either," He said. "You jumped straight to love."

"You're not funny, Potter." Lily said calmly but her heart was still beating too loudly for her ears.

"So, you didn't have a crush on me in Second year?" He said grinning.

Lily stopped in her tracks. Nobody knew she'd had a crush on him, besides her friends. And that was ages ago. She had never wanted him to find out. Obviously.

"Am I right or not?" He asked, raising his hands in question.

"H-how did you know?" She stuttered.

"I didn't, you just told me." He said smirking.

"What?" Lily said angrily.

"I didn't know. I was just teasing you, which I enjoy immensely. And then, it's like I felt your heart racing, so I knew I was right." He looked at her smugly.

"Why did you say Second year, then?" Lily asked, trying to get a grip on her heart. She had just told James Potter that she had, had a crush on him when they had been younger. Just appreciate he doesn't know how you tagged his name at the end of yours, Lily told herself.

"Because, that's about when your hormones start blazing, don't they?" He said knowingly.

"Who do you think I am?" Lily snapped. "You?"

"Don't worry." He said, unswayed by her mood. "Nobody will know about your undying love for me besides our school. And I'll make them promise not to tell anyone else. Your secret's safe with us."

Lily turned away, intent on ignoring him.

"Come on, it's OK. Everyone likes me." He came over to her, draping his arm over her shoulder casually. "You have a right to like me."

"I was young." Lily scowled, throwing his arm off her. "And I didn't have a good taste in boys at that age."

"Ouch, that hurt." He said. The nerve of him...

"Ah, I see we're getting along." Said Mrs Jones as she came out from the office. "You both should get into detention more often. Come on along this way, now, both of you."

She started to lead them towards the library. Lily and James both walked behind her: Lily trying to keep her distance from James as much as possible. Contrary to him, who was trying to get as close to her as possible.

"I'd be surprised if I manage to come out of this ordeal even." Lily muttered, making James snort with laughter. "Let alone another one."

"That will be all for today." Mrs Jones called them to attention after an hour. Lily jumped up with joy, nearly knocking a table over in the process. Mrs Jones looked at her sharply. "Calm down, Ms Evans or else you'll be spending more time in detention than necessary."

"Yeah, behave, Evans." James muttered from behind her, poking her in the back. Lily turned around to glare at him, and his smile widened even more. Then he first looked towards the teacher's desk and then back at her. Then he quickly thrust a calculator in her hands.

Lily gave him a questioning look, but he shook his head. She turned to face the front again, trying to hide the calculator. But she shouldn't have worried. Mrs Jones was writing something on a piece of paper. And their small exchange went unnoticed.

"Now, both of you listen to what I have to say and then you can leave." Mrs Jones said, putting her pen down. Lily was trying to read what he had written in the calculator, but suddenly jumped as Mrs Jones spoke. "I don't want to hear any complaints about you two anymore. You are not kids. This isn't primary, so grow up and act your age."

James scoffed loudly, but Lily made herself resist from turning around and punching him. And who was she kidding. Even if she did, it'd do her more harm than good.

"Both of you." Mrs Jones said in a louder voice. "Potter, I'm not just speaking to Lily."

"Yes, Ms." James looked down at his shoes, a perfect picture of innocence.

"Behave both of you and now, get out of my sight." She dismissed them with a wave of her hand.

Lily glanced down at the calculator, and felt like screaming. He had written 'Ca11 ME', using the number one in place of the letter L. She left the library hurriedly and made her way towards the front gates of the school.

"Bye, Evans." Jamie called behind her as he lazily walked after her. "Don't think too much about me, it could be bad for your health."

Lily didn't turn around and ignored him, walking out of the school faster than ever.

"Hey, sexy." Jack said as soon as Lily picked up her phone, reminding her a little of Jamie.

"Hey, to you too, err, handsome." Lily said, taking a bite of her apple. She had walked in the house five minutes ago, and realized that her stomach had had nothing to eat all day. Well, besides the few fries at lunch time, Lily recalled.

"How did detention go for you?" He asked.

"Awwful with two w's." Lily groaned. "And I don't want to talk about it so please; I beg you, don't offer to talk about it."

"I wasn't going to say anything like that." He protested, but it was clear from his voice that it was exactly what he was going to say.

"Yes, you were, you liar." Lily said. She changed out of her uniform with some difficulty, seeing as one of her hands was too occupied with holding the phone.

"Fine, I was." He admitted grudgingly. "But I was only trying to be supportive boyfriend."

"Aww, that's really cute." Lily said happily. "Just for the sake of it, ask me how it went. But don't expect an answer."

"You know, from what I can gather about you from the first time I talked to you," He said thoughtfully. "It seems as if you live in wonderland or something."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lily said sharply.

"Not in a bad way." He edged. "Just that you believe in everything being perfect. You believe in happy endings. You believe in the guy being your Prince Charming. Am I right?"

"No." Lily said. "It's not that I don't believe imperfect. For example, in my episodes, the guy is sooo not good. And then there are fights and sometimes happy endings and sometimes tragedies."

"You lost me on the episode part." He asked, confused. And Lily moaned internally.

"Nothing, really." Lily sighed. "It's embarrassing and you don't want to know."

"It's embarrassing, so it must be something bad." Jack said. "Oh, come on, tell me what it is. The more you won't tell me the more I'll pester you."

"It's not bad." Lily said, still not wanting to tell him. "And it's not embarrassing with your friends, because they all do it too."

"Do what?" He said, a little impatiently.

"Patience, Jack." Lily teased him. "It's like fantasizing."

"About what?"

"About who, you mean." Lily corrected him. "You fantasize about a guy you've liked recently and make up stories and stuff."

"Do you do episodes about me?" He asked.

"Who said I like you?" Lily said cheekily. She wanted to let him know that she didn't need to do episodes with him. Whats the point of doing one, when you're living it?

"Ah, I can tell by the way you pick up my calls." He said knowingly.

"What way?" Lily said suspiciously. She was positive she answered his calls normally. She pressed the green button on her phone, the left one, put the phone next to her ear and...

"I've realized you always pick up on the third ring." He said. "Thinking, that you would seem too eager if you picked up on the first ring."

"I do not do that." Lily said, blushing. She hated the way he could read her. "You forgot to remember that I ignored your calls for the entire day."

"And you made up for after by talking to me for three hours, am I correct?" He reminded her.

Lily couldn't find any words to defend herself. And she was not ready to admit that he was right. Not even to herself.

"That's not fair; you can't throw something like that at me." She protested.

"Then admit it, you do like me." He said, waiting for her response. "Clock is ticking, Rose."

"Not yet," Lily decided to say. "I don't like you. Yet."

"Oh, come on, you're totally in love with me." He cried. "It's so easy to tell, the way you talk to me and everything."

"I wouldn't die for you." Lily said, trying not to fall into his trap for admitting her feelings for him. It was too soon to do that. Especially with the history that's trailing behind him. First girlfriend at six, Lily gagged. "If I was in love with you, then I would let whoever kill me instead of you. If you know what I mean."

"That's harsh." He said, pretending to sound hurt. "You're meant to save any innocent life, let alone your boyfriend."

"In a way I am trying to," Lily said quietly. Good way to start the topic, Lily, she cheered for herself. "But you're too stubborn to let me."

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"About you drinking and stuff." Lily said, still not speaking up. Please don't erupt, please don't...

"Rose, please, don't go there." He pleaded with her, and her heart softened at his tone. "I have enough of it at home."

"Yes, I know, but think about it," Lily said, playing with a strand of her hair. "If someone you loved was doing the stuff that you are, then how would you feel? Wouldn't you want them to stop?"

"Is there someone who you love, doing this?" He asked.

"Jack, shut up." Lily snapped, suddenly not feeling scared of him anymore. "This isn't funny. You take everything as a joke. Something's that aren't meant to be one."

"OK, calm down." He said. "You'll probably end up saying stuff that you don't mean."

"I'd rather do that then not tell you about what I think about the things you do." She said hotly.

"And what do you think, huh?" He said, and Lily thought his voice sounded dangerous, but she ignored it. Get it out, Lily, she encouraged herself. He can't exactly reach over to hurt you if he does get mad. "Come on, enlighten me."

"I think that what you do is simply stupid." She began. "Reckless, pathetic, something you would be obliged to do if you didn't have a life. When everyone you loved has died or something. Is that what's happened to you? Jack, you're sixteen, for god's sake. Do you even care about yourself, let alone..."

"Rose, stop it." His voice was definitely murderous. "You make me sound like a really bad guy. I don't drink that much that I get drunk and beat people up. And I only do weed, not the whole f****** drug factory."

"Which, I'm sure is addictive." Lily pressed, ignoring his language. "And it will be hard for you to let go of."

"Exactly." He said, frustrated. "It_is_ hard for me to not do it anymore."

"If your brothers don't know that you're taking drugs," Lily wondered. "Then, don't they ask where you get your money from and where you spend it?"

"They don't need to know anything." He said. "It's my money. I work for it."

"You work for it?" She said, surprised, forgetting to be angry. "Where?"

"At my dad's garage." He said, too angry with her to speak nicely.

"But aren't you kind of like underage and still at school and stuff?" Lily said. "You shouldn't be working."

"It's my dad's garage." He repeated. "And I'm doing it willingly with pay, so it's fine."

"Right." Lily went quiet. She didn't like it that they were already fighting. But still...

"Rose." His voice was quiet, regret clear in his tone. "I don't want to fight with you."

"Yes, and I'm not even allowed to have a say in what you do." She accused. "I know I've never dated before, but I thought I would at least be entitled to my own opinion."

"As I said," He sounded a little resigned. "I don't want to fight with you."

"Then stop starting the fight." Lily almost yelled at him.

"You brought the subject up, Rose, not me." He sighed.

"Then why didn't you listen to me and tell me you won't do it again?" Lily said childishly.

"OK, let's not talk about it now, alright?" He asked, attempting to make peace between them.

"Fine. Your life, nothing to do with me, Right?" Lily said. Then she realized she was making it worse by behaving like a child. She sighed quietly and lay down on her bed and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry. And you were right. I said stuff that I wish I hadn't said."

"I told you, you would." He said.

"Well, thank you for your vague warning, Mr..." Lily stopped. "I don't even know your second name."

"Turner." He laughed along with her, the tension between them forgotten.

"Thank you, Mr turner." Lily said formally. Then she remembered something. "Guess what?"

"What?" He said with fake enthusiasm.

"Yesterday, my mum heard me talking to you." Lily said.

"So?" He clearly didn't see what the problem was. Was he mad?

"What do you mean 'so'?" Lily asked him. "Do you want her to find out I'm talking to this guy that I don't even know?"

"Then let's meet up." He suggested lightly.

"No!" Lily exclaimed, springing up from the bed. "I mean, not now."

"What was that for?" He asked, hurt.

"I've already told you why not." Lily said, running her fingers through her hair. "I wouldn't be comfortable or confident around you."

"Why not, though?" He asked, as if he had no idea what she was saying. But then, he wouldn't, Lily guessed. Not when he'd started his love life from the age of six.

"Because, I don't know." She said with frustration. "It's weird. I guess I want to know you first and then kind of see each other."

"Why do you feel that way?" He said and she could tell that he was trying to figure her out.

"I really have no idea how to explain it to you." She said. "And I would be speechless in front of you."

"Too busy looking at me, I suppose." He laughed.

"No, not because of your handsome looks," Lily cracked a smile. "But because I would be shy."

"Oh, I can't imagine you to be shy in front of me." He said. "Not with that big mouth of yours."

"So, is it OK if we see each other after?" Lily said.

"Depends on what you mean by after."

"Like a few weeks to properly know each other." Lily said.

"No, not a few weeks, b..." He was about to argue, but Lily cut him off.

"Sorry, Jack, but you don't have a choice." She informed him firmly. "Either you agree with me and not meet until I say so or you disagree and not meet me until then. The choice is yours."

"Not exactly given me the best options to choose from, have you?" He said.

"I'm known to do that now and again." Lily smiled. "Innocent but dirty, that's what they call me."

There was a soft knock at Lily's door. Her mum poked her head around.

"Jack, stay quiet and don't say anything." Lily whispered into the phone, turning around, pretending to straighten her pillow, at the same time trying to hide her phone.

"Stop trying to hide your phone, Lily." Her mother said knowingly. "Here, keep Olivia for a minute. I'm helping Mrs. Norris with her shopping. And by any chance, is that Jack you're talking to?"

"Hmm." Lily nodded, not bothering to speak.

"Say Hi to him and tell him we'll talk some other time."

"Mum said Hi." Lily said to Jack, embarrassed.

"Hi too you too." He said cheerfully, as he listened Lily squirm. Lily grimaced, him and her mum would get along splendidly.

"He says Hi to you too, mum." Lily said, glaring at her.

"Tell him we'll meet him when we have him over for dinner." Her mum said, as if there was nothing wrong in talking to her daughter's boyfriend.

"Tell her I've not even met her daughter yet." Jack said when Lily told him what her mum had said.

"Shut up, Jack." Lily told him. Her mum left, leaving Olivia with Lily. "Come here, Olive." She picked up Olivia and put her on the bed. "Don't get anything dirty, Liv, or I'll get mad." Lily said to her as she saw a banana in her hand.

"Olive?" Jack asked.

"My three year old sister." Lily answered, tucking a tissue under Olivia's lap.

"How many siblings do you have?" He asked.

"Two older brothers, Jake and Jeremy." Lily said. "And then there's me and Jay, who is only eleven and then there's Olivia."

"How old is your eldest brother?" Jack asked.

"He's twenty two and marreid, Jack. He has a daughter, Amy." Lily said. "Sorry, but he's not available."

"Hahaha." He said. "Put Olivia on the phone."

"I doubt she'll talk." Lily warned him. "Olivia, do you want to talk on the phone? Here, say Hi to Jack."

Lily put the phone next to her ear.

"Say hello." Lily urged her, willing her to repeat after her.

"Hewo, Zhaack." Olivia said with her mouth full of banana.

"Hey, Olivia." Jack said. "You OK?"

"That's all you'll get out of her." Lily said, taking the phone out of her reach as she made a grab for it.

"She's cute." Jack said.

"Not when she's looking like a tramp." Lily told him, wiping Olivia's mouth with a tissue. "And you've not even seen her."

"So, send me a picture of her." He asked.

"No. What would you do with it?" She asked him.

"I just want to see her."

"Jack, she's only three." Lily said, pretending to be horrified. "You know that you can't have her."

"Rose, I'm not after your family, I swear." He assured her and Lily laughed. "I just want to get to know them. I like you, not your siblings."

"Sure, sure." Lily said. "You were even flirting with my mum. I'm not so stupid, Jack."

"Never thought you were, sweetheart." He said.

"Jack, have you ever been in love?" Lily asked him suddenly, settling herself down next to Olivia, who was now playing with her toys.

"Me?" No. He scoffed. "Never. Why?"

"Just asking." She had expected that reply.

"Weird question to ask though." She had expected that too.

"Yeah, I suppose." Lily agreed.

"What about you?" Jack asked.

"Maybe," Lily shrugged, not wanting to admit it to him. "Maybe not."

"That's not even an answer." Jack said.

"Forget I asked that question." Lily said and turned the conversation to Angel. "My friend might be in love but the guy doesn't like her back. It's tough."

"Why? What happened?" He asked.

Lily filled him in on what had happened today, as he listened to her with rapt attention. She hoped he was, anyway.

"That's bad." He said when she had finished. "I've never thought of it that way. If I find a girl pretty, I ask her out and then I dump her. End of story. That's why it was such a big shock to me when you said no to me at the beginning."

"You seriously need to start respecting your opposite gender." Lily scolded him.

"I have." He said. "I've listened to everything you've said and everything you say goes in this relationship."

"It's meant to be compromising." Lily said. "Though occasionally, you have to do what the girl says, to keep her happy, because she is the most vulnerable in the relationship."

"You and your ridiculous beliefs." He mocked her. "You can't live according to them. Everything's not perfect out there. Just like that, neither is a relationship. Both of them have got to put effort in it, not a guy more than the girl. It doesn't work that way."

"But a girl is more reliable on a guy then the other way round." Lily argued. "Jack, trust me, right now, I'm on that stage and I know how it is."

"OK, fine, you're right." He let it drop. Lily sighed and thought about the pile of homework waiting for her and knew she had to put the phone down now.

"Jack?" Lily asked. She looked at Olivia's sleepy figure and groaned.

"Hmm?" He said absentmindedly.

"I've gotta go." She said. "Olivia's fallen asleep and I've not eaten properly all day.

"OK." He said. "I've gotta be somewhere as well. My friends said I've been neglecting them since I started talking to you."

Lily laughed. She liked the sound of that. Not the neglecting his friends part, but that she had, in a strange way, been given priority over his friends.

"Bye, Jack." Lily said. "Talk to you later."

"You too." He said, putting the phone down.

"Why did you tell him you had a crush on him?" Sam yelled across the room as soon as Lily entered the classroom the next day.

"What?" Lily turned around to frown at Sam, who was gaping at her with an open mouth.

"Everybody's been talking about you having a crush on James when we were in year eight." Summer said as Lily made her way to them. "How does he know? Did you tell him?"

"No," Lily scoffed. "Would I ever talk to that thing willingly? He kind of tricked me and I kind of fell for it."

"_Everyone_ is talking about it." Sam echoed Summer. Lily glared at her. "Sorry, couldn't help it."

"I could literally kill him for this." Lily muttered angrily, scanning the room for James. She saw him talking to Naomi, his known sidekick. A girl who wouldn't leave his side to save her own life. Lily stood up and marched over to them and stood behind James.

"Do you need anything?" Naomi said in a sickly voice, staring pointedly at Lily. Usually, all Lily thought of when she saw Naomi was how she could hurt her in the cruelest ways possible, but today she was too mad at James to pay her any attention. Had the boy no heart?

James turned around and grinned when he saw who it was. "Hey Girlfriend. Come sit down." He said as he got up to make space for her on the bench, nearly knocking Naomi off it, but catching her just in time. He raped his arm around Lily's shoulder, totally oblivious to the filthy look that Naomi sent him. Lily grinned inwardly.

"It isn't funny," Lily snapped, throwing his arm off her shoulder. "I told you not to say anything."

"I swear I only told Padfoot here," He pointed at Sirius, who grinned and waved at Lily when he saw them looking. "He must have spread the word round. Don't worry, love, I'll sort it all out for you later. But for now try and enjoy yourself."

Lily stared at him disbelievingly before lifting her hand to slap him. But he caught her wrist before her skin made contact with his, making her wince in pain.

"Gonna hit me, Lily?" He said softly, looking straight in her eyes.

Again, Lily was met with a pair of beautiful hazel eyes that were staring back at her, making her a little dizzy. She was lost in his eyes for a few seconds before she realized who she was looking at. She tore herself away from his eyes, wrenched her hand out of his and walked back to her seat without looking at him. The girls were staring at her with dumbstruck expressions on their faces.

"What was happening back there?" Managed Sam as she collected herself.

"There was a spark," Angel was nodding her head vigorously. "I definitely saw some firework burst between the two of you."

"Are you OK?" Summer asked dubiously. "What were you thinking when you were looking into his eyes? What happened?"

Lily sat down and looked at them. "What do you think happened?"

"Well, you were about to hit him. You should have known you wouldn't have been able to." Sam mocked her. "This is James Potter we're talking about. Have you even seen his abs?"

"Sam, are you my friend," Lily said sharply. "Or his?"

"I am your friend," Sam said. "But I'd rather be his."

"That was a moment of madness," Lily ignored her. "So please, never ever mention this again."

Lily saw Angel stiffen as she looked over her shoulder. Lily turned around and saw that Nicky had just walked in. Lily waved at her and Summer motioned her to join to them.

"Angel," Lily looked at her with pleading eyes. "Please, don't say anything to her. Give her a chance. It's not her fault that Adam's chosen her to make you feel like this."

"Lily's right, Angel." Summer added. "She's not done anything to you, so leave her out of it."

"Don't say anything to her." Lily warned her again as Nicky sat down next to their bench.

"Hi guys." She said as she took her books out.

"Hey." Lily and Summer said cheerfully but Angel stayed quiet. Sam reluctantly muttered a silent "Hi", but made no other move to make her feel welcome.

Lily rolled her eyes at Nicky, who shrugged her shoulders. "It's OK." She mouthed at them.

"Ouch!" Lily winced as something hit the back of her head. She turned around and picked up the scrunched up paper that was lying at her feet. She unfolded it. A sharpener fell out from it. Lily realized it was a note and she frowned as she read it.

Evans,

"What was all that back there? Fall in love again?"

Love, James.

Lily smoothed the paper out and scribbled onto it furiously. Her note read:

Dear, pig head,

"It just shows you've got a great imagination. Use it in English and now, if you don't mind, can you please, STOP harassing me."

Hate, Lily.

She folded the paper neatly and aimed it at the back of James' head. She smiled with satisfaction when she heard him curse. She turned around and winked at him. Her smile grew wider as she saw him scowl at her. Life was sweet.

**A/N: And it can get sweeter by sending me reviews...**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Guys, sorry for the extra long wait…**

**Big thank you's go to: aasiya333, Irish4eva, ****.113( yes, they don't go to Hogwarts.), Wannabeme15,dreams823,lunalilies, TheMathGenius,Dakota,** **GemmaGemini98,** Crescendo-xx…for Reviewing, favouriting or alerting…

Chapter 9

It had been exactly a week since Lily had last talked to James, or it is more appropriate to say harassed by him. He hadn't come to annoy her at all. And this seemed to worry her. This wasn't normal behaviour for him. And it seemed that the same thought was getting Summer worried. But it wasn't James who was on her mind.

"You know what?" Summer said thoughtfully. "I've not spoken to Alex since two entire days. I've not even been coming to school with him."

"It's Ok, Summer." Angel patted her arm. "You're not going to die."

"No, Seriously," Summer insisted. "I haven't. I think something's going on, but he doesn't want to tell me."

"Yes, you're right." Sam nodded. "It is very tragic, but still, I'm sure no one is going to die."

"Shut up." Summer gave her a look. "If he doesn't come today, then I'm going to go and look for him."

"Sure, we'll help too." Angel and Sam said enthusiastically.

"No thank you." Summer leaned away from them. "I'll be fine on my own."

"Oooh, on your own, eh?" Sam waggled a finger at her. Lily laughed, which immediately turned into a frown when James dumped his food tray on their table.

"Hey, hey, girlfriend." He sang, scraping his chair back to sit down. Then he looked around them. "So, how's it going?"

"Wrong table, James." Lily looked at him pointedly, clenching her teeth. Just when she thought he'd left her alone.

"No, no." He shook his head. "I sit where my other half sits. Even if it annoys her. Actually, scrap that. Especially, if it annoys her."

"Oh, don't worry about me." Lily said, looking away from him. The temptation of stabbing him with a fork was at the moment too strong. "I don't really care. You can sit wherever your heart pleases."

Summer looked at Lily and smiled encouragingly. Lily smiled back and jumped up to greet Alex as he came towards them, sitting him down next to James and moving her own tray between Angel and Sam. The latter was gazing at James with her fork in mid-air, spaghetti swinging this way and that. Lily kicked her shin from under the table. Sam looked startled as her fork clattered on the floor.

What? She questioned Lily with her grey eyes. But Lily smiled at her sweetly and turned back to Alex, who was looking at her suspiciously. Lily shook her head at him and glanced at James. The entire table was quite for an entire minute, looking at each others confused faces. Until James swore and stood up with his food tray.

"You seriously need to bring life to this table." He said, walking around to Lily and ruffling her hair and kissing the top of it before making his way towards his own table with Naomi and Sirius and the other idiots.

"Well handled, Lily." Summer congratulated her as Lily dabbed at her hair with a tissue.

Sam glared at her. "You could have let him stay a little bit longer."

"Next time he decides to come," Lily told them. "We do the same thing. Alex, you have to arrive on time and we have to go all quiet and Sam, you have to..."

"Summer, can I talk to you for a minute?" Alex cut her off and Lily looked at him disbelievingly.

"Did he just do that?" Lily said as Summer disappeared behind Alex.

"What?" Lily said disbelievingly after Nicky came back from buying a couple of drinks on their way to home after Summer told them why Alex had taken her out.

"His mum's still alive?" Angle said with her mouth open.

"And he lied about it? To you?" Nicky asked. She was now used to Angel's glare and a few occasional snide comments from Sam, but she loved being with the girls and couldn't think of having better friends. She also knew about Alex and Summer's 'friendship'.

"And you forgave him for it?" Sam asked.

"There was nothing I could do." Summer said.

"How about not forgiving him?" Sam asked sarcastically.

"He didn't want to be labelled as a bipolar's kid." Summer sighed. "I'm mad at him for lying to me, but, I understand him, so it's Ok. And then..."

But she stopped, thinking better of it.

"What?" Lily looked at her. Summer had this irritating habit of starting a sentence and leaving it unfinished. It annoyed the hell out of Lily and the others.

"Nothing." Summer turned away. She was doing it again.

"No, tell us." Angel pressed. "What were you going to say?"

"I wasn't going to say anything." Summer said innocently. "Now, hurry up, I need to get home."

"Is it because of me?" Nicky said with narrowed eyes. And Lily knew that she was thinking that they might not trust her, what with her being a newcomer and everything.

"No, no." Summer said hurriedly, feeling awful inside. "It's just that I, urrghh, fine, I'll say it."

"Great!" Nicky said, winking at the others. "What is it?"

"You have to promise not to say stuff like 'I knew it was going to happen' or anything else." She made them promise.

"He kissed you, didn't he?" Lily said slowly, staring her Summer's face. She blushed a deep red colour and tried to hide behind her hair. She then started to walk away from them.

"Wait!" Lily raced after her. "It's that what happened? Am I right?"

"Summer?" Sam's voice sounded so serious that Summer turned around to look at her concernedly. "I knew it!" Sam screamed, as soon as she saw that she had gotten Summer's attention. "I knew it was going to happen."

She screamed again, punching the air.

"Ohh, I'm sooo happy for you." Angel said giving Summer hug. "But I knew it was going to happen soon."

"I'm pleased for you too." Nicky smiled at her. "From what they used to say," She pointed at the others, who were happily taking the mick out of Summer. "Even I knew that it's bound to happen."

"Is anyone happy for me," Summer asked huffily. "Or is it just because they 'knew it was going to happen'?"

"We are over the moon for you, Summer," Lily placed a soothing arm on her. "But I'm afraid it's more for our victory against you."

Summer scowled and resumed her walk.

"Hey, you have no right to be mad at us." Angel blocked her way by stopping In front of her. "You haven't even given us any of the gory details."

"There is nothing to give to you." Summer reddened again and tried to push past Angel. She gave up when the rest joined Angel.

"It was nothing special." She shrugged as if she didn't care.

"But how did it happen?" Lily asked curiously.

"When he told me about his mum," Summer said. "And I took it really coolly, he was so surprised and happy that he just kissed me. Then he realised what he'd done, so he apologised. But then I pulled him and kissed him and yeah, that's all."

"That's all?" Sam was disappointed. "I thought there was more. I thought you pulled him and ripped his clothes off and he took off yours and... Ok, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I won't say it again." She cried as Summer leapt on her and attacked her hair.

"But do you admit now, that you like him?" Lily asked Summer after her Nicky had managed to pull Summer off Sam.

"No. He's still my friend." Summer said obstinately, before walking off towards her house.

"That girl will never admit it, will she?" Lily said as they reached her house and bade them goodbye.

"See I was right." Lily boasted a she switched off her lamp light and snuggled down under her covers.

"About what?" Jack asked.

"Alex and Summer?" She wondered whether he remembered them. "You know my friend? Well, they're finally going out after nearly five years of pining for each other.

"Well, I guess I'm better than the Alex dude." He decided. "I was supposed to take tips from him, and I still got my girl before he got his."

"Yeah, yeah, we know you're the best, Jack." She remarked sarcastically as her stomach tingled on the way he said 'my girl'. "But I still don't know how she could do it."

And then she went on to explain how Alex had lied to Summer about his mother.

"I mean he just lied to her about such a big thing and she just said OK." Lily tried to understand how Summer's brain worked. "I mean, forget her, how could he do that to her?"

"Oh well, at least he told her." He shrugged in answer.

"What does _that_ mean?" Lily was outraged and her voice rose a little. "So, you lie to someone for so long and hurt them and everything. But at the end you try to make it OK by saying sorry?"

"But he has a point." He argued. "He didn't want anyone to know his private life."

"What? Not even Summer?" Lily said heatedly. She actually wanted to hit Jack for a second before reminding herself that it hadn't been him who'd lied.

"Hey, come on, just drop it." He advised, more for his sake than hers. "It's their business, not ours."

"You just want me to stop because you know I'm right." Lily teased him, and the tension between them ceased a little.

"Yeah, right, because you've never been wrong in your life." His voice was sarcastic.

"Not with you, I haven't…" She broke off suddenly as she heard the floorboards creak just outside her bedroom door.

"Ros…" Jack began but she cut him off.

"Shut up, there's someone outside my room door." She said as quietly as she could manage. "Be quiet for a minute."

The room was still for a minute before her door handle turned and her brother stepped through and shut the door carefully behind him.

"What the hell are…? She said but he clamped his hand on her mouth.

"Shut up, will you?" Jeremy shot her a filthy look, glancing at the door.

"What are you doing in my room?" Lily said more quietly, looking him up and down. "And may I ask why you aren't dressed for bed?"

"You wanna see me without clothes?" He winked at her.

"Jeremy!" She punched his arm.

"Why are _you_ still awake?" He raised a questioning eyebrow, looking down at the phone in her hand. "Were you on the phone?"

"Hhmm." Lily shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm not an idiot. Who was it?" He dived for the phone.

"Jer, get off my phone!" She tried to wrestle the phone out of his hands, but he was too strong for her. Obviously.

Just then, Lily heard Jack call out her name faintly, probably wondering what had happened.

"_That_ sounds like a dude." Her brother stated as he put the phone next to his ear.

"Er, Summer has a severe cold?" Lily tried in vain, knowing it was going to be impossible to get past him.

"Really, Lils?" He cocked an eyebrow. "You couldn't think of anything better? Haven't I taught you anything?"

"OK, fine, I'll tell you, just give me the phone first." She tried to sound stern, but failed miserably. Even then Jeremy reluctantly handed her the phone, not sure whether she was going to keep her word or not.

"So, who is it?" He pressed, but she held up a hand to silence him. He gave her _the_ look.

"Jack, I've gotta go, I'll talk to you tomorrow, yeah?" Lily said.

"Oh, come on, I've hardly heard your voice all day." He complained, and Lily rolled her eyes fondly.

"We can talk tomorrow, OK?" She said, but he made no move to put the phone down. "Jack, later, OK?"

Lily glared at her brother as he jumped on the bed, making himself comfortable. He shrugged in response.

"Sure you'll have time for me then?" His voice had a tinge of annoyance in it, which she found rather irritating. Since when had he become like this?

"Jack!" She said, warning clear in her tone. "My brother's here and I need to go."

"Yep, whatever, talk to you later." He said and cut the phone off before she had a chance to say anything.

She elbowed Jeremy in the stomach, who was stretched out next to her, leaning against the head board, with his hands behind his head.

"What was that for?"

"He's mad at me now cause of you." Lily said, her voice just above a whisper. "Git, what are you even doing here?"

"Mother Dearest locked my room and the key is under her pillow." He shrugged as if this was a regular occurrence. "So I had no choice but to crash at yours."

"Yeah, how about the living room?" Lily suggested.

"Too dark and scary for me." He winked at her. "Not everyone is as brave as my sister."

"Why were you out so late in the first place?" Lily asked unnecessarily. She didn't need to ask him. He was always out until late in the morning. And he simply had no reason. Jeremy being his name.

"I was enjoying myself." Again, he winked at her suggestively and Lily scooted away from him, creating as much space her double bed would allow. She knew what he meant by "fun". And she had no interest in his love life. Well, not the physical bit anyway.

"So who was the bloke?" He stirred the subject away from him, reaching over Lily to grab the half-eaten chocolate bar from her bedside table.

"Do you really want to know?" Lily asked, knowing deep inside that she would have to tell him in the end anyway. "But it's a really long story."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'm here until Mum decides to hand over my key." He reminded her. "And that's probably in the morning. So, fire away."

"Oh, right." Lily nodded her head and looked up at him. She wondered how he would react. Jeremy was in his own way the big, older, protective brother that Lily never wanted, but actually had two. He wouldn't let anyone say a word against her, let alone hurt her.

"That's my job." He would snap.

But he hadn't always been this way. Just since their parents had divorced a few years back. And even more so, when Jake got married and moved out.

Lily continued to look at him as she thought all this and he looked at her, waiting. Lily decided to go for it and tell him. What's the worst he could do?

Lily made him promise not to tell anyone, and more importantly, warned him not to comment on anything, and keep his opinions to himself. Then she told him everything that had happened since that night at Summer's house.

"How come I got to be the smart one in the family?" He said, as if daring her to contradict him. "Whilst, you got no brains at all? How clueless can you get?"

"Jeremy, I said no comments!" Lily's voice was cold. She was sick and tired of people telling her what to do.

"Alright, alright." He shook his head at her. "Just be careful with him."

"I haven't even met him, Jer." She said with anger and frustration. "How can he hurt me?"

"Just promise that when you do meet up," He silenced her a with a look as she began to protest. His voice sounded a little serious, and Lily knew she ought to keep quiet. "When you do, tell me. Either meet him here, or somewhere near my girlfriend's house, so I can be there to keep an eye on him."

"You have a girlfriend?" Lily was more shocked by that news, rather than worrying about what he was making her promise.

He nodded as if he was ashamed. Well, he would be, Lily grimaced. Never had she known her brother to have a girlfriend in nineteen years of his life. He just didn't understand the point of having one. If you wanted physical action, he would say, why give yourself a limit by getting tied down in a relationship?

"Who?" Lily asked him excitedly. Wait till her mum got around to hearing this.

"She was in school with me." He shrugged nonchalantly. "A total B***h."

"Jeremy!" Lily hit him on his arm. What was it with men and swearing?

"Well, she _was_ one." He defended himself, as if that made it alright for him to curse her.

"OK, so now she isn't, and you like her?" Lily was practically bouncing up and down on her bed. Her Brother had a girlfriend! "Is that it?"

"Like is a strong word, you know?" His voice was thoughtful. Lily rolled her eyes. Trust him to think 'Like' was a very serious and committing word.

"What then? You fancy her?" Lily pressed him. Jeremy snorted and once again, Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Then what do you feel for her?"

"I dunno." He shrugged. "I guess you can call it sleeping around."

"Jeremy!"

"What?" He glanced at her. "You're mature enough to understand all this, no?"

"Yes, but I'm your sister."

"Yeah, so you can give me free tips and advice."

Lily picked up her cushion, which had been lying by her side, and hurled it at his head. Lily grinned as it hit the side of his face.

"Tell me." Lily whined, grabbing back her cushion which he had just tucked under his head. "Do you like her not?"

"I seriously don't know how I feel." He looked at her strangely as if he'd never seen her before or that he didn't understand the words that were coming out of her mouth. "I don't sit there, separating my feelings like girls do."

"See, that's the problem with Jack too." Lily said. "He's always harpering on about what I feel for him and how much I like him. And not even once has he told that he likes me."

"And what? That's such a bad thing?" He shook his head at her as if to say _women_.

"Yes, it is a bad thing. I want to know whether I'm wasting my time or not." Lily said and repeated her question.

"I really don't know." He sighed, running his hands through his hair. And for some very odd reason (that Lily couldn't explain to herself) reminded her of James Potter. Although, Jeremy's hair was a little less messier than James'. "I guess, yeah, I do like her, I mean. I _have_ been seeing her for the past few weeks."

"Wow!" Lily breathed, clearly impressed.

"I know." He grinned at her, before standing up with Lily's duvet. He dragged it on the floor and made it into a comfortable looking bed shape, ignoring Lily, as she pointedly shot him a murderous glare.

Then he took her pillow and demanded Lily to shut the light.

"Git." She kicked him in the middle as she stood over him. But he didn't respond. Lily sighed in defeat. He was probably already asleep anyway. Lily walked through her closet and fumbled for a blanket. After wrapping it around her, she switched off the light, her thoughts suddenly turned towards Jack.

She desperately hoped he wasn't mad at her. Sulking was _her _speciality and he had no right. She was just thinking about how far they'd come together, when she heard Jeremy stir in his sleep.

"Lils?" He called suddenly, making Lily jump with fright.

"Yeah?" She said softly.

"I was serious about that dude."

"Okay." She responded after deciding it had been a serious, brotherly warning. "Goodnight."

"Yeah." He managed before drifting off again.

Lily rolled back on her back, her head hit the soft cushion instead of her pillow, and she too fell into a deep sleep.

As soon she arrived home the next day, she dialled Jack's number, instead of waiting for him to ring her. She knew he was upset about what had happened yesterday, sulking more like, but she could understand him a little. Or not at all. But somebody had to be the mature one.

"Jack?" She said, as soon as the phone stopped ringing. Although, no one spoke on his side of the phone.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?" He sounded a little distracted.

"You still mad about yesterday?" She asked, her voice small.

"Wha-oh yeah, I mean no. No, I'm not mad." He said after he realised what she was talking about. "I'm fine. What about you?"

"Yeah, I'm great." Lily said as she listened to the noises in the background. "Jack, what's going on in the back.?"

"Oh, sorry." He said. " My parents are out of town, and well, my mates are going wild."

Lily smiled to herself, knowing he might have just gotten over the little mishap yesterday. Although, in her opinion, there was nothing to forgive and get over.

"Oh, and no drinking if you're having a party." Lily warned, trying to appear stern.

"I'm older than you, love.." He said laughing. "I don't have to do as you tell me."

"You assume that you're older, just because you're a guy?" Lily rolled her eyes. "My birthday is on the first of march. What about yours?"

"Errmm, you know what?" He started to backtrack a little. "Age is nothing but a number."

"Ha, I thought so. I _am_ older than you, aren't I?" She asked tauntingly.

"Yes, but just by about twenty six days." He admitted, albeit reluctantly. "Mine's on the twenty seventh of March."

"Yay." She cheered for herself. "That means, I have a little power over you."

"Thank god, you insisted on not seeing each other yet." He said. "I mean, if we had already seen each other, then you'd be tagging along everywhere and not let me have a good party."

"Oh, shut up."

"OK, so no drinking." He concluded for her. "What else should I not do at this little gathering?"

She scowled at his mocking voice. "Hey, you're teasing me." She whined. "Fine, do as you please. But don't come crawling back for forgiveness."

"Okay, your highness, whatever you say." He said. "Now can I please get back to my party?"

"Fine, but remember what I said." She told him, a little sad that he had to go. In a way, she kind of realised how he must have felt yesterday, as if she was blowing him off for her brother. But she shoved that thought to one side. She liked to think she was very sacrificing for others happiness. And that's exactly what she was doing. "And, eerm, have fun."

"No this can't be right." His voice was filled with mock horror. "Did I just hear my girlfriend say have fun?"

"Oh grow up." She laughed. "I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, see you tomorrow, babe." He said. Lily stared at her phone, a small smile playing at her lips, as her thoughts lingered on the word 'girlfriend'.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Okay, I'm sorrrrrrrryyyyyy! For not updating sooner. Had a lot going on. I think…

Anyway, before you begin this new chapter, I want to bring forth the changes I made in the past chapters. Well, here they are:

# Instead of the other school I made up myself, I changed it back to Hogwarts. It's more familiar, if you get what I'm trying to say. Although, obviously, there won't be any magic. And it's not a boarding school.

# They're in their seventh year.

And yeah, that's it! Ask away if there is any confusion.

And finally, the big thank yous go to: TheMathGenius, aasiya333, Weasley-and-Proud, 3l1n0r, FireflyBlizzard, lunalilies(Hey you), fanficfreak1118, AddictedToThis123, Agent-Padfoot-13, Crescendo-x () and Most of all, thank you to 22potterfan, who reviewed after a long time, and made me want to update the next chapter. So, thank you much for that 22potterfan!  
>Chapter 10<p>

Lily looked around her estate as she locked up her house and descended the steps, her phone wedged tightly between her ear and her shoulder as she dropped the keys into her bag.

"Are you sure you're not there waiting for me?" She asked Jack as she set off down the street.

"How many times have I have already told you that I'm not?" He didn't sound angry, but a little annoyed. For which Lily couldn't blame him, seeing as she had asked him the same question just a little over a hundred times.

"Fine." She pouted, still looking around cautiously. She wasn't just about to take his word and believe him not to be there. He could even be wearing an invisibility cloak something. "You swear?"

"Yes." He told her exasperatedly. "If I am there, which I'm not, and you see me , which you won't because i am not there, then you don't ever have to talk to me again."

"Okay, fine." She turned right at the end of her street and started off down another long street that led to nearest park where Lily and her friends had grown up playing. 'Vegetable Patch', they'd unofficially named it at the age of six. "It's because I'm still not ready for it, that's all."

"I'm not going to throw myself on you." He said a little quietly. Lily guessed he must be getting quite frustrated with her being a little awkward about meeting up. "We agreed to meet on your conditions, remember?"

"Even though, I know you want to see me, and I, you," Lily paused as she opened the gate to the entrance of the park and walked inside. She fondly recalled the days of her childhood as she looked around at the little kids who were playing in the park. "I think it's for the best that we don't. Anyway, I'm in the park now. Where did you put it?"

"Do you see that green swing in the left corner of the park?"

"Jack, all the swings are painted green." She reminded him. It was true, all the swings had been repainted green when they had been about six years old.

"Yeah, but the one in the left corner."

"Jack, they're all in the left corner." Lily shook her head at him. Out of all people, she'd had to stumble upon him on the phone.

"Fine, I meant the last one." He said, sounding a little irritated.

"Jack?"

"What?" Lily laughed at his blunt tone.

"Why so serious?" She pouted.

"Oh, shut up." He said sullenly.

"Come on, lighten up," Lily said. "I was only messing around with you. You are such a Moody Margeret."

"Says the one." He scoffed, laughing. "Now, do you see that weird looking plant on its right side?"

"Yeah, the strange green thing?" She said as she looked at the plant in question. "I see it. Now, where do I go from here?"

"There should be a small path on its right side." He explained. "Follow down that path. Then you'll come across some bushes there."

Lily made her way towards the path, avoiding kids as they rushed passed past her, kicking a ball around. But she wasn't so lucky as two small boys of about eleven raced past her, knocking her sideways onto the ground. Lily bit back a scream as her skin came in contact with an irritating substance. She glanced down; to her horror she noticed the familiar green plant next to her foot.

"Owww," She cried out as something strange started to prick her skin. She nearly dropped her phone as she bent lower to examine her injury.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "You okay?"

"Yeah, it's gone all red and it's stinging a lot." She whined as she rubbed her foot gingerly.

"Yeah, well, it got me too." He said bitterly. "When you get home, just apply something cold on it, like toothpaste or something. I think its poison Ivy."

"Well, you could have warned me." She snapped, staring down at the bright red mark on her foot. "It's really itching."

"You'll be fine, trust me." He sounded a little sarcastic. Well, Lily couldn't really blame him, seeing as the way she was dramatically complaining. "Although, it did hurt quite a bit."

Lily gave her injury a last rub before proceeding towards the bushes he had spoken about. She put her foot inside one of them, careful not to step on another monstrous plan, and felt around the ground with her foot.

When it didn't come in contact with anything, she took her foot out of the bush and instead put her hand inside, feeling around cautiously in case she got bitten by an animal, or worse, poisonous poison Ivy.

Eventually , her hand came upon something that felt like paper. She excitedly bent down and retrieved the brown paper bag. She stopped herself from peeking inside at the contents of the bag so she can open it at home properly. Hell, it was her first present from her first 'kind of' boyfriend, and she wanted it to be special.

She stood up and straightened her clothes, making her way back out of the park, giving a wide berth to the Poison Ivy. Then she ran the rest of her way home. Lily entered her bedroom, and sat herself down on the bed, panting a little from the short run. I should go on walks with Jack in the mornings after we meet up, she thought, chuckling a little, as if sharing a private joke with herself.

"Have you found it?" He asked after what seemed like forever.

"Uh-huh." She didn't bother to reply properly as she opened up the paper bag. Whatever was in the bag was wrapped up securely in a purple tissue paper.

"You like it?" He sounded anxious as he spoke, suddenly making Lily laugh. It was nice, in fact, really enjoyable to see that Jack also had an insecure side, just like the rest of the normal people.

She delicately unwrapped the tissue paper, careful not to rip it. She gasped as a beautiful necklace fell into her hands. It was gold in colour, with a rose pendant encrusted with diamonds.

"Aww, Jack, I can't believe you got this for me." she said, fingering the flower as a lump developed in her throat. She couldn't believe he'd actually brought this for her. No matter how much they talked on the phone, he still didn't seem real to her. Well, not until she would see him with her own eyes.

"Hey, don't go all emotional on me." He warned her. "I didn't really pick it out myself. My sister had to help me with it."

"What?" Okay, back to earth, Lily, she told herself. "You didn't really bring this for me?"

"Oh, I did." He corrected her quickly. "Just that Jess actually picked it."

"Oh, well, it's the thought that counts, right?" Lily said, pretending to be annoyed.

"Hey, come on!" he protested, and Lily laughed. "You have no idea how much trouble I had to go through to get the necklace Jess liked. And then when we went there, we found it, but it wasn't the right colour, so we had to ask around in many shops. If you don't like it, you can just put it back where you found it from. I can shove it up Jess'…"

"I was only joking." She said, before he could get carried away, and start to believe her. "Is Jess your sister?"

"Yeah." He sighed. "I have a few siblings who like to torture me now and again."

Lily laughed. "Add me to your list."

"I can't believe my own girl would gang up against me." He said, in outrage.

"Oh there are a lot of worse things out there." she told him. "And honestly, I loved it."

"You're not just saying it to make me feel better?"

"Oh, who cares about how you feel." She joked. "I'm only messing. Seriously, whatever you would have got me, I would have still loved it. Because it's from you. And also, because you were kind of tortured by your sister to run around everywhere."

"Well, good." He said. Lily noted how his tone had found its way back to its usual confident self. "I knew you'd love it."

Lily rolled her eyes at the ceiling.

She sat up abruptly on her bed as she suddenly had the urge to find out what he looked like. Just so he could make her wear the necklace he'd brought her. Isn't that what boyfriend's do?

"Hey, Jack?" she said excitedly.

"Yeah?" he sounded a little wary at her tone.

"What're you doing this Saturday?" she heard his breath hitch a little in his throat as he gulped. Which made Lily think twice about what she was about to say. Did she really want to see him? Or was it just the excitement that the present had brought forth? Okay, so she should abandon the idea of meeting up, but it couldn't hurt to just play around with him, could it?

"What?"

"I was thinking maybe it's time we…" she started but he didn't let her finish.

"If I'd known you could be won over by a gift, I would have endured the torture ages ago."

"Don't get so worked up about it, honey." Lily advised. "I was just messing about."

"You little…"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"I could you kill for this." He threatened.

"You would have to find me first." She challenged.

"That was not even remotely funny."

"Really? Because I found it hilarious."

"Look, let's just forget you ever mentioned meeting up." He said.

"Jack, relax." Lily said. "It will happen soon, I promise."

"You know, I've just thought of something." He said suddenly. "How will we ever have children if never meet up?"

Lily froze.

"You did not just say that." Lily stared at her phone, as if daring it to contradict her. Because he could not have just said that. They hadn't even seen each other yet, let alone whatever he'd just implied. "Jack, you did not just say that."

And shouldn't she be the one talking about wanting to get married and have kids? Or was she being stereotypical?

"What?" he asked at her reaction. Well, apparently there was nothing wrong in him mentioning that instead of her. "Why do you sound so shocked?"

"You just said you want to have kids." She pointed out in her trance. "I mean, you want to have kids!"

"Yeah, of course." He said seriously. "When I'm about forty or fifty."

"Why so late in life?" Lily said, but then answered her own question. "Of course, because you want to live your life to the fullest, don't you? Without any distractions like kids and stuff?"

"Is there anything wrong with wanting kids at a later age?"

"No." Lily pursed her lips. "But by the time you have a kid and he or she is about ten, you'll be so old with one disease or the other."

"That's true." He said. "I need to think of a better age."

Lily rolled her eyes once again. He was talking as if it was in his hands to give himself a baby, rather than God's.

"Jack, Jack." She sighed as she stretched a little after she'd been sitting in one place for so long. "What are we going to do with you?"

"Leave me the way I am, I'll be back on track in no time." He laughed. "Not that I've gone astray or anything."

"Jack?" Lily said his name again, with a completely different reason than before. She wondered whether she should mention this to him so soon. It had been what, more than a month? It wasn't enough time to start liking somebody as much as she liked Jack.

She really wished though that she hadn't kept refusing to meet up. If only she had done so at the beginning, she wouldn't be so afraid to see him. And the more she put it off, the harder it would be for her to agree on finally seeing him.

There were times at night, when she'd just lay awake in her bed, creating scenarios about how they would meet. Who he would turn out to be. What her reaction will be when she finds out who she'd been talking to all this time? What his reaction would be at seeing her?

Would he be surprised? Would he not like her?

These thoughts would continue to annoy her at night. But as soon as she talked to him the next time, none of the doubts even crossed her mind. And why would they? Maybe she had no experience in these matters, but in no way was he a bad boyfriend. They had always come to an understanding about everything. They hardly fought over anything. There shouldn't be any doubts in her mind in the first place.

"Hey, you there?" his voice penetrated through her thoughts.

"Can I tell you that I really, really like you?" she said, a little breathlessly, a little wary of his reaction at the untimed confession.

"Love me even?" he asked like a greedy child for more sweets. Lily relaxed. Why had she been scared in the first place? This was Jack. Her Jack. And she could tell him anything.

"A little bit." She admitted sheepishly.

"Say it to me." He ordered.

"What?"

"Tell me you love me?" he repeated.

"But I love only a little bit, yet." She protested. Trust him to make it more complicated than it already was.

"You still do though." His voice sounded a little smug.

"I love you a little bit." Lily said crossly, emphasizing on the last part.

"A little big?"

"I said 'bit', Jack." She told him firmly. "Don't push it."

"But you said big." He argued. "I'm telling you I heard big."

"But I said 'bit', Jack." Seriously, it was like arguing with a five year old.

"No, but I heard big."

"Jack…"

"Well, I think, I love you a little bit too." Lily jumped up and squealed loudly as she heard him. She had said the same words herself, but it seemed much a bigger deal coming from him. For obvious reasons like, she hadn't expected him to say it back to her.

"You did not just say that." She said out loud. He couldn't have just said that. Because, this was her, Lily Evans. And boys did not just hand out I Love Yous to girls like her. "Jack, you did not just…"

"God, we're not going through that again." He interrupted her.

"Well, I don't care, but you just said you loved me." Lily felt it necessary to jump up and down on her bed for just such momentous occasion, but opted not to. In case he could hear the bed springs bounce or even worse: break.

"I said 'a bit'." He corrected in a tone, which sickly reminded her of herself.

"I don't care." She almost yelled. "I can't believe you just said…"

"…I love you. Yes, I know." He laughed. "I know."

"I am so happy right now." She admitted after a little while. Not that he hadn't already witnessed her happiness through the phone.

"Yeah, this could've been much more sweeter if we were face to face." Said the party pooper.

"And you just ruined the remaining sweetness by saying that." Lily pointed out, even though she knew what he was saying made sense.

"Well, a guy can dream, can't he?" he sighed dramatically, as if he was mad with longing for her.

"Well, shall I leave you to dream, shall I?" Lily said, deciding she had done enough talking for one day.

"I can see where I'm not wanted."

"Glad you can take the subtle hints, honey."

"Yep, glad to be of service, Ma'am."

"Bye, Jack."

"See ya whenever."

"Oh, and Jack?"

"Thanks for the necklace."

"You're welcome."

"Okay, bye."

"Love you a little bit."

Lily laughed. "Love you a little bit too. And I'll text you at night."

Lily was grinning wildly as she skipped downstairs to wash the dishes that she had neglected to wash earlier. It was only when she had finished drying the lot, when she realised Jack hadn't showed as much enthusiasm as she had when she told him she loved him. A little bit.

Well, he couldn't exactly squeal like a girl now could he? She mentally shook herself. And obviously, he was a boy, so it was even harder for him to react to such situations.

************L/J*************L/J*************L/J**************L/J************

"Oi!" Lily shouted across the football field, running towards her brother, who was standing in the middle of a crowd. She pushed past everyone and made it to him. She was surprised to see, Jay, her eleven year brother, talking to-out of all people-James Potter.

"That shouldn't happen again." She heard her nemesis inform her brother. "You gotta learn how to fight back, man, or else these…"

"What's going on?" She demanded as she marched up to them. Then she turned to her brother accusingly. "And what are you doing talking to him?"

"Nothing. He was just teaching me how to fight." He shrugged before turning away to face Potter again, who smirked at her.

"Err, excuse me?" Lily narrowed her eyes at the back of his head, before turning him around to face her. She couldn't believe how far James would go to annoy her. And he wanted to teach her brother how to fight? What's more, Jay has enough brothers at home if he needed tutoring in that department. "Teaching you how to fight?"

"Yeah, he said the way I fight, isn't the right way at all." Jay explained, and Lily was furious to find that he was saying all this as if he believed it. "He said I need to make the enemy tremble with fear, or else I won't have a chance of winning."

"And did he also tell you that you shouldn't fight in the first place?" Lily gritted her teeth. It was one thing to mess with her, but no way in hell, was she letting him get to her brother. She looked at Potter, who was still smirking in evil way of his, where he was just letting her know he'd won this one.

"No, Lily," Jay shook his head at her, and spoke as if he was speaking to little kid. "Even I know it's cowardly to run away from a fight."

"You," Lily pointed her finger at Potter. "Leave him alone. He doesn't need bad influence from people like you, alright?"

"I'm not influencing him in a bad way," James spoke for the first the time, a small smile tugging at his lips. "A bloke needs to know how to defend himself from his enemies. I, for instance, know how to protect myself from your deathly, physcotic rages."

Lily took a dangerous step towards him. "You leave him alone, do you understand?"

"Lils, you can't tell him who to hang out with." Lily turned around in shock to stare at her brother. On the other side, James and Sirius burst out laughing. She heard the onlookers snigger.

"I'm not telling him to…" she looked at Jay, embarrassed that her own brother had done this to her in front of the so many people. "I wasn't telling him anything like that."

She turned away from him, but instead walked straight into James. She looked up at him as he smirked at her. "Give up, Lily?"

"Never!" Lily spat before walking away from him.

L*************L&J**************L&J***************L&J*******************J

"Get out!" Lily yelled as she bounced off her bed and made for her door just as Jay tried to let himself in. "Jay, get the hell out of my room."

How dare he try to talk to her after publicly humiliating her? After taking the pig's side over hers? It made her furious to think that James had one over her. As if he was one step ahead in their unannounced and unofficial competition. And it had been her own blood that had landed him where he was.

"Just hear me out. Alright?" He said as he struggled to push open the door.

"I don't care." Lily put all her strength to use and pushed against the door, matching her brother's efforts. "You knew we didn't get along well and even then you make friendships with him. And you insulted me in front of god knows who."

"Hey, I was just messing around." He protested. "I swear, I didn't mean to."

"Yeah, you and him both." She breathed heavily under the strain of the door. "And you shouldn't be talking to him in the first place."

"I can talk to whoever I like." He too, panted as he shoved against the door determinedly. "I don't have to my friendships according to you and what you approve."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Lily knew he was right. But then again, they were talking about James Potter here.

"Then why are you trying to talking to me if you're not sorry." She thought of letting go of the door and surrendering, but for some reason James's smug face came to her mind, which forced her to keep up with her struggle.

"Because I wanted to let you know that he wasn't just showing me how to fight," Jay said. "He was telling me to stand up for myself."

"What?" Lily wrenched open the door. Jay stumbled in and struggled to balance himself.

"Yeah, some guys were annoying me…" Lily raised her eyebrows questioningly. Her brother had been getting bullied and he had gone to James Potter? "It was just some fifth year guys messing about. Nothing major. James saw and he helped me out."

"He did?" Lily asked, her voice, for some odd reason had gone small.

"Yeah," Jay nodded. "Something I've been trying to tell you since a while."

"No, you didn't tell me any of this." Lily argued, ignoring the keyword 'try'. "Otherwise, I would have saved myself the embarrassment."

"Well, this just teaches you not to butt into my business in the future." He said cheekily, before running out of the room.

Lily ran after him, but her mind was picturing a scene where she was apologizing to her brother's new found friend. Not that she was planning on doing so.

A/N: So how was it? Worth the wait? No/yes? Please let me know…


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